Naruvatar Avatar Naruto Crossover, Avatar TLA
by TwilightMus
Summary: Avatar Naruto Crossover: Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi are begrudginly working together again, but who is the boy in the void? Avatar, Naruto, Avatar TLA, Avatar The Last Airbender, Avatar/Naruto Xover.
1. Boy in the void

***(I do not own Naruto or Avatar or any of the related characters to either cannon fantasy universe, I am, however, the writer of this story)***

***I've done some updates and edits to this fic, a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or favorited, you've inspired me to keep writing, special thanks to Storm Warning and Auroraglass for tenacious reviews and feedback***

Chapter 1: "The Boy in the Void"

It's quiet here, cold but not painful... empty, space or something like it... no stars, no sun, no earth, no love, no pain... an overwhelming nothing, the kind of peace you only find when you have moved beyond the point of feeling, breathing, living...

And then it's not, it's harsh and bright and warm and fast. The heart is pumping and you're aware for the first time, how blood feels when it flows through your body. You feel it now because it had never been unfelt. You are screaming... no that's just breathing, lungs and now your mind reels as light hits you, each photon smashing into your skull, so bright you think your eyes are burning… and you know you have eyes. Slowly or quickly, time feels like not the passing of seconds but the number of experiences, only your mind can't tell which came first or if it was all at once. Thinking, aware. There is the feeling of something, nettles... no that's just hair. Your fingers your hands, your tongue, saliva has a taste. Then like a gong, it's so loud, there's so much of it, so many voices, screaming noises... no, birds, wind...

That's what it was like for the boy lying face up in the grass. His first moments, or his second first moments. Moments which none but those who have died, and lived again, experience.

He looked around at the trees... so many beautiful trees, his thoughts found focus, his second first thought was that everything was beautiful, everything. Flowers, a slug, a spider, some bark discarded like a second skin, strewn across the forest floor with branches and hair... no, nettles... pine needles, and leaves... large star shaped leaves.

He picked up a leaf from beneath the bark to be looked at. He wanted to speak to it as he was almost sure it was trying to speak to him...

"You we're hidden... and now you're free..." he said.

The boy let go of the leaf which drifted on a passing breeze back up into the trees... beyond... above the canopy, disappearing in the bright globe of pure life which hung above.

Everything was beautiful... even pain, like the pain of that sharp metal object in the boys stomach. He looked down and saw it sticking there, shining and brilliant in the sunlight, something flowed out of him like a water fall...

... Beautiful...

Then time crashed forward.

Everything didn't seem beautiful and he cried out in pain.

A man stood over him smiling and holding a long sword in his hands, one swift movement and the sword slashed across the boys face drawing more of the crimson liquid.

The man licked the edge of the sword clean, savoring the hot wet taste, he leered, he smiled, this was his favorite part, the fear and blood.

The boy pulled the small metal blade from his stomach and more water flowed from the crimson fall...

"Who... why did you?... " The boy tried to comprehend how the world could change so quickly.

The man reached down and grabbed the boy's chin in his hand, lifting him off the ground.

"Oh you shouldn't worry about that, you won't have to worry about anything soon, I'm just a weary traveler whose a little hungry."

The man looked into the boys eyes and saw something there, something flavorful and potent, something delicious, something... glowing...

* * *

Naruto, a blond Genin of Konoho, jumped quickly through the trees followed by three companions; a young woman with pink hair, a young man with a melancholy demeanor in a kimono, and an older man with white, spiky hair and a wrapped-blue-cloth-mask covering his mouth and one eye.

The masked man spoke quietly. "I think we are close, his trail leads this way."

"We will get him for sure this time." Naruto nearly growled.

Tsunade-Sama, the leader and Hokage of their Ninja Village had taken special care with this mission, she only gave it to the masked man's team because of their prior relationship with their melancholy companion, Sasuke.

After all the time he had spent seeking out the dark-haired rogue ninja in the kimono, it seemed incomprehensible to Naruto that his old friend was moving swiftly along-side him once more. It was as if they were still team mates and the last two years had never occurred.

Their quarry was of mutual interest. Sasuke had only agreed to come accompany Naruto's team because they had the intelligence he needed. In the end, they didn't have to find Sasuke, he found them, and had since deflected all attempts from Naruto at conversation regarding anything but their quarry.

Sakura let the wind brush her pink hair out of her face as she jumped deftly from tree-branch to tree-branch. She was trying not to think about Sasuke, and failing, but she needed to keep her head on their rather dangerous mission... her inner self was screaming profanities but on the surface, she kept her cool. It was her incredible discipline that tipped her off to the change in Sasuke's energy as he activated his Sharingan eyes, a unique gift of his clan which gave him an often frightening advantage.

Sasuke didn't say a word but jumped ahead of Naruto and Sakura with ease, arching left toward the center of the forest.

"Sasuke's found him." said the masked Kakashi, the elder and official leader of the small Ninja team.

The three sped up to keep pace but stopped short when they saw Sasuke crouching upside-down on a branch concealing himself in leaves, they did the same when they noticed the glow coming from the clearing in the forest.

* * *

The man flew backward smashing through a tree before crashing into rock face.

He landed on the ground deftly, still clutching a bleeding gash in his arm, his black and silver hair hung disheveled around his face as he gripped his sword.

He saw the figure of the boy walking slowly toward him across the forest floor, the energy flying off of the child was like a star of pure chakra, yet somehow not chakra.

He had thought the boy a quick snack, now he was beginning to think he had been lucky enough to find a meal. The silver haired man either lacked the ability to fear, or was simply too arrogant to be afraid.

"That's right boy, come here, come to Tsatsua and show me how deliciously powerful you are."

The boy did not answer but simply walked forward until he stood ten feet from the man.

"What's the matter, are you frightened? I will show you fear, I will show you your true self..."

The glowing figure cut him off, and it spoke not with the voice of a child but with the voice of a thousand choirs.

"YOU COULD NOT BEGIN to COMPREHEND our TRUE SELF*  
*YOU COULD NOT begin TO COMPREHEND OUR true SELF*  
*YOU could NOT BEGIN TO comprehend OUR TRUE self."

The man Tsatsua laughed outrageously at this... "Oh oh, I have found quite a wonderful toy to play with! And I will play, yes we will play for hours and hours, maybe days, but first I am famished, I should have a little something to eat."

Tsatsua stuck his sword into the ground and the blade began to split at its point into dark roots which grew outward into the earth... within a second the form of a large gaping mouth appeared below the child, inside it's gaping maw, a void of nothing, it gnashed with teeth of sharp silver.

"This is my Silthfell technique... it doesn't matter how powerful you are, my stomach is never full!"

The bright blue glow around the boy seemed to waver and flow downward toward the horror beneath.

"Don't try to move my lovely entre! You can't really. No one who faces the void can hope to overcome its..."

But no one got to hear what they could not overcome as a kunai flew through the air and stuck into Tsatsua's neck.

He landed with a thud as the mouth began to close around the boy, reaching up to drag him in.

Sasuke and team Kakashi landed lightly in the clearing.

"We have to help that boy!" Sakura yelled.

Kakashi held her back.

"We can't, we can't even get near it, once it's fed it can be dispelled, but not before. There is nothing in this world that can stop it."

"We can't just let him get eaten Kakashi! That is so wrong!" cried Naruto.

Sasuke moved to examine the limp body of Tsatsua.

"Paralyzing poison." said Kakashi dismissively.

"Sakura made it." said Naruto numbly as he watched the great silver mouth close over the top of the figure and the last of the glow began to disappear.

Naruto felt horrible, their plan was to use his secret chakra as bate, and because they were too late some boy was now the victim of this madman. There was nothing he could do about it, he'd read the file on Tsatsua and the Silthfell technique, there was nothing...

But then just as the light was about to disappear entirely a sliver of it maintained, and then the glow spread over the surface of the mouth, until it was bright blue.

"Kakashi-San, what is happening?" asked Sakura, afraid she was watching the boy die.

Kakashi just shook his head, and even Sasuke looked up from examining his quarry.

Sakura tilted her head slightly, as she heard a feint echo of music in her mind, not a sound but a memory of a sound, it was an odd music, melancholy yet powerful. It grew in strength and cadence until she found it difficult to think of anything else.

Cracks broke through the bright shining globe of the Silthfell mouth in an unfamiliar yet clear pattern. Then a voice spoke from within it.

"We do not fear the void, we have come from the void and we are a part of it*  
*WE do not fear the void, we HAVE come from the void and we are a part of it*  
*We do not fear the VOID, we have come from the void AND we are a part of it.

Finally the cracks shattered the Silthfell into a thousand pieces of bright blue glowing energy. Rather than falling, the pieces danced and fluttered through the air outward and away into the forest, Sakura examined one as it passed her by and she saw the unmistakable form of a butterfly, a thousand bright blue and silver butterflies. And as they dissipated into the forest she saw the form of the boy, still glowing still standing.

Finally the glow lessened, then vanished completely. The boy fell, leaving four figures standing, staring blankly at one another, and two limp-bodies on the forest floor in the center of the clearing, hidden in the leaves.


	2. The four warriors

((I own not, Narruto nor Avatar))

Chapter 2: "The Four Warriors"

A boy with blue tattoos running down his spine up to his forehead and out to his limbs awoke inside a small tent.

At first he was disoriented by sleep and a dull pain in his stomach but soon he regained himself and looked around at his enclosure.

He had been laying on some kind of sleeping roll but the tent itself did not have a floor and he was surrounded by grass and earth and a rich smell of some herb he couldn't recognize.

He first sat up and listened quietly, then he moved slowly, placing his hand to the ground and feeling for a vibration. In his mind's eye he could see through the earth, the surroundings beyond the tent. Tall trees with small green leaves, an animal or two that he couldn't quite name but had a familiarity to them, and beyond the tent about five meters away a small campfire and three figures huddled around it eating quietly.

Focusing his senses he could feel two men, one very young one middle aged, and a girl. They were powerful and athletic all of them, and they sat with a certain kind of poise the boy recognized as embodying physical discipline.

Slowly he looked around for something he always kept with him but couldn't find it, he located his pants but not his shirt and slipped them on as quietly as possible before moving to the door of the tent and unzipping it.

As soon as he stepped through the opening he nearly fell back with shock as there was another young man, maybe five years older than him, standing at the entrance, staring at him calmly. The unexpected warrior wore a long robe that opened almost completely in the front and had a sword strung into a sheath across his back.

The tattooed boy caught himself and looked back at the young man for a moment before hopping brightly out of the tent to stand before him, a huge smile on the boys face as he stuck out his hand in greeting.

"I'm Aang." said the boy with an almost palpable cheeriness in his voice.

The young man continued to study him, saying nothing.

"Um..." stammered Aang "... where am I? I don't remember going to sleep in a tent?".

The young man just stared blankly.

Aang waited a very awkward minute and then smiled and waved nervously, moving around the stoic figure slowly, a manic smile plastering his face that said "I don't know what's wrong with you but I'm just going to pretend you're acting perfectly normal!", before moving on toward the fire and the other figures he'd felt nearby.

As soon as Aang turned his back he felt the quiet warrior disappear. Looking back to see nothing behind him, he wondered if the man had just been a figment of his imagination despite what his senses had told him.

Meanwhile, Naruto was pondering something in a way that would have made him look gloomy had he not been Naruto and completely incapable of gloom. Sakura had some idea of what was troubling Naruto but decided to keep her guesses to herself, concentrating instead on poking the fire with a stick as she let a piece of her mind wonder.

The white haired man was the first to notice Aangs approach. He looked up at the boy with one eye that gave no hint of his opinion about seeing the young monk up and about. The other two reacted to their sensei's movement rather than to Aang himself.

It was immediately clear to Aang that the two younger people were slightly uncomfortable with his presence, his training and instincts letting him know immediately by their body language that they were trained fighters of some kind as they adopted relaxed stances calibrated to shift easily into a defensive or evasive movement.

As soon as they noticed Kakashi's movement, Naruto lept up putting his hand behind his back on a Kunai, Sakura let her hands hang at her side as she moved to support herself on her back leg and lowered her center of gravity. In a fraction of a second the two Genin assessed the situation, seeing the boy standing shirtless with no weapons and bowing they relaxed a little.

The tattooed boy decided bowing respectfully might set them at ease so he said "Greetings, my name is Aang..." as he did so, then followed it up with a half smile continuing "... have any of you seen my shirt?".

Kakashi didn't answer immediately, still analyzing the newcomer. Sakura wasn't expecting the friendly voice she'd heard from the boy so she stuttered a moment. Naruto however gave it a milliseconds thought as he hopped forward and nearly belted "HELLO I'M NARUTO!, SAKURA WAS WASHING YOUR SHIRT CUS THERE WAS SOME BLOOD ON IT!" and then he laughed manically "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" as he put his right hand behind his head and stretched, rocking on his heels.

Aang almost jumped back when the boy in the orange jump suit greeted him but managed to regain his balance and respond with almost as much cheer though a little less volume. "Oh! I... It's nice to meet you Naruto! And thank you Sakura for washing my shirt." he said as he bowed first to Naruto and then to the white haired man he presumed to be Sakura, whose eye widened for a moment.

Sakura tried not to laugh. Naruto Didn't.

Five seconds and Naruto was rolling around on the ground dangerously close to the fire.

Sakura stifled a giggle, hand to her mouth to try to keep from seeming inapropriate, but soon she too was overcome, managing to say between giggles "I...I'm Sak... Sakura."

Aang caught the mistake and laughed apologetically, then more as he watched Naruto's unabashed mirth.

Even Kakashi chuckled a little, but his laughter was just a cover, he was observing Aang and making some interesting comparisons.

Specifically Kakashi knew exactly the kind of stress that pushed constantly on Naruto and Sakura, no less now because of the presence of their old companion, Sasuke. He knew how both had been required to grow up much faster than most their age, even faster than most Genin, and he understood that this bout of spontaneous laughter at a mediocre misunderstanding was powered by the rare opportunity to relieve all that built up pressure. The same kind of almost giddy reaction came from Aang, the kind of reaction he would normally see from a Hokage in the rare moments they had to be themselves and enjoy life without the pressure of another's fate in their hands.

Meanwhile the young trio began studying one another as the giggle-fest all-to-quickly ebbed and they remembered the precarious nature of the meeting. Their analysis went something like this...

Naruto considered Aangs cheerfulness plus the fact that he had neither attacked nor threatened Naruto within the last three seconds and decided Aang was a great candidate for a new friend.

Sakura observed Aangs ease with new people and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt even though she'd keep her Kunai handy, she also pondered why Naruto claimed she had washed Aangs shirt when it was in fact Naruto himself who'd thought to do it while she was tending to the boys wound.

Aang wondered how three people with such distinctive hair colors could have possibly wound up together by coincidence.


	3. That distraction Jutsu really works

// To answer a question in review, the story takes place around the current timeline of Naruto, maybe somewhere around shippudan ep 90 and yes I'm aware of the odd presence of Sasuke it is explained//

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Chapter 3: "That Distraction Jutsu Really Works"

**********************************************

"I've never seen trees like this." remarked Aang.

The whole forest seemed familiar and foreign at the same time, there was an "offness" about it that made him uneasy and fascinated.

"Really? Where are you from?" Asked Sakura as she walked through the forest beside him.

The troop had just begun to move back to Konoho, Sasuke was leaving soon he had only been along to get whatever information he could on his brother, he knew that Naruto and Sakura would welcome his company and he took advantage of it but had thus deflected all attempts at conversing with them. Now Sasuke was staying long enough to observe the boy who had defeated a previously assumed untreatable technique through shear power, his eyes twitched with the power of the Sharingan as he studied Aang very closely from behind the rest.

Kakashi was aware of Sasuke's intent even if Naruto and Sakura wanted to believe he was with them for other reasons, and he kept a keen guard up in case Sasuke attempted to kidnap the newcomer.

Naruto wanted so desperately to talk to Sasuke, he had tried several times in the last few days but all Sasuke would do was stare through him. Sakura had warned Naruto not to jeopardize the mission or scare off Sasuke, but she wished so much that she could just be alone with him for a few minutes, get him to acknowledge that he still cared about her and Naruto.

"I'm from the Southern Air Temple originally." replied Aang absentmindedly. He was really enjoying that these people had never heard of him. Though the fact that they didn't find his clearly Air Nomad appearance to be a dead give away as to his identity was puzzling. But maybe they'd never heard of Airbenders... the thought didn't make him incredibly cheery, then again, maybe they'd never heard of the Avatar. At any rate he enjoyed not having to be the Avatar for a while, and just being able to be Aang.

"Never heard of it." said a cool voice from behind them.

Aang looked over his shoulder at the quiet man with the sword and red eyes. "Well the only way to get there is on the back of a flying bison, so mostly only Air Nomads can go."

"Air Nomads?" asked Naruto and Sakura together.

"You know. Airbenders. Monks. Air Nomads."

Everyone but Aang gave someone a puzzled look.

Aang puzzled back. "You know..." he moved his hands into a circling motion beside him "... Airbenders."

As Aang spun forward he continued the spiraling motion of his hands finally releasing them ahead of the others toward the empty road.

The wind immediately picked up at an alarming rate, the trees beside them swayed under it's pressure and all scattered leaves, dust, pebbles, loose foliage and amputated plant parts rushed forward into a cloud, speeding down the path into the distance.

Sakura and Naruto looked on with curiousity and interest but Kakashi and Sasuke's eyes shot wide open in surprise.

"That's a neat Jutsu, but I don't recognize the had symbols." remarked Naruto.

"Jutsu?" questioned Aang.

"You know... " began Naruto but Kakashi cut him off.

"That wasn't a Jutsu." stated Kakashi. "He's manipulating the energy around him somehow."

"Is it a bloodline trait?" asked Sakura.

"Possibly."

"Jutsu?" Questioned Aang.

"You DONT know what JUTSU is?" came Naruto's incredulous voice.

"You didn't know what an Airbender was." retorted Aang. "What's Jutsu?"

Sakura regarded him for a moment. A boy who came from a temple no one had heard of, who had never heard of Jutsu, but had a special bloodline ability completely foreign to them. Suddenly she felt Sasuke's cold stair from over shoulder. She looked over at her old friend and saw a hunger in his eyes she had only seen in one other. Orichimaru. She shivered.

Naruto piped up since everyone else seemed busy thinking. "It's molding the chakra in your body and manipulating it with symbols."

Aang looked blank.

"Beautiful distraction no-Jutsu!" yelled Naruto as he formed the symbols before him with his hands.

Sakura and Kakashi blanched. "Oh god no!"

*POOF* came the inevitable puff of smoke and standing before them in place of a spiky blond ninja was a six foot tall naked woman with long blond pigtails. She winked at Aang.

Aang just yelled and stumbled back.

Sakura hit Naruto hard on the head, popping him out of the Jutsu.

Kakashi covered his eyes with his hands.

Sasuke drew a kunai.


	4. Aang Susuke Fight!

// I write where the readership is. Also, to anyone reading this, am I writing these Jutsu out right? I usually watch the subtitled series and I looked up the names, but this is what it sounds like they say.//

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Chapter 4: Aang/Sasuke FIGHT!

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The attack was so fast, Kakashi was the first to go down, a Kunai in the back, but Naruto and Sakura didn't have time to react to that.

Sakura was hit across the temple with the hilt of a sword while Sasuke's other hand reached out and touched Naruto's stomach. Sakura fell to the ground following Kakashi's own thud while Naruto doubled over clutching his stomach as a red energy began to envelope him.

But the last attack missed, even though Aang was lying on his back when it began he still managed to dodge the seal encoded Kunai aimed at him.

No matter, Sasuke didn't lose a second, three more Kunai flew up toward the spinning monk ten feet above the ground, each one missing it's target by less than a hair's breath.

"Katon No-Jutsu."

Flame erupted in a massive cone before Sasuke, reaching out to envelope the Air Nomad.

Aang reversed the angle of his spin, still airborne, and a spiral of wind caught the flames before him creating a massive wall of spinning fire that moved outward instead of forward.

A kunai shot from the middle of the flame and Aang adjusted his stance right, but it somehow turned into three kunai at the last second and as Aang launched himself into the Air once more it cut him slightly on the back of his wrist. As he was still gaining velocity a small scroll flew at him from behind. Aang twisted violently in the air and watched the symbols on the scroll as it flew past him an inch from his face.

Behind the scroll, above him, he saw a figure silhouetted by the sun. Aang looked wide eyed as Sasuke sped toward him from the Air, sword drawn.

Aang kept the motion of his twist going and kicked at the last second, sending a rush of Wind up at the Ninja and tossing him nearly twenty feet in the air. This gave Aang a brief moment to land and regain his balance, he kept one eye on the Ninja as he surveyed his environment.

Sasuke flipped upward with the wind. The monk was impressive, he was somehow able to dodge every attack Sasuke threw, and he did it with a creativity that subverted Sasuke's Sharingan. Even though Sasuke could catch and read the movements, Aang was evading inovatively on each point, making his next move impossible to predict precisely. Multiple attacks coupled with variations on angle weren't forcing him to loose his balance. The monk seemed to be able to completely reverse momentum and velocity with practiced ease and not the slightest hin of disorientation.

"This would be easier if I were trying to kill the Air Nomad rather than catch him." Sasuke pondered.

"What are you doing?!" Yelled Aang, as he marked the location of the thrown kunai, scroll, the layout of the trees, Sasuke's trajectory and the three fallen Ninja. Aang noted the odd orange glow emanating from Naruto as he lay on the ground curled into a ball, holding his stomache.

Sasuke of course said nothing, he sped downward with amazing speed, Katana outstretched.

Aang turned on a dime, dashing forward into the forest beside the road, he heard the light footsteps of the ninja behind him and ducked behind a tree just as a kunai stuck in where his head had been.

There was a deafening explosion which knocked him upward. Aangs ears were ringing, his heart pounding, he felt something warm on his neck. The monk grabbed the nearest tree branch, flipped under it and launched himself forward. He thought to stay in the trees above the Ninja and was shocked when he saw Sasuke's agile form leap up directly in front of him.

Aang was starting to expect the unexpected with this young man, so he let himself fall to dodge the first sweep of the katana, then grabbed Sasuke's foot, swung himself forward and off balanced the Ninja mid leap, pulling him downward as Aang reached the next tree-branch.

Sasuke landed perfectly a few yards below and lept after Aang.

"He's so fast, and he can jump so high?" thought Aang. He'd only known one other person who wasn't an Airbender and could begin to match this kind of speed, agility and acrobatic prowess.

Kunai's dashed through the green-golden trees with the two forms. A tree-limb fell, leaves rustled to the ground, the wind picked up and one of the forms lept to the side. Their silhouettes played a masterful dance thruout the canopy. At any given time either partner seemed to be guiding the other, following avant to arriere in improvisational harmony of movement to some unheard symphony.

Aang spun backward and launched a wave of wind at his pursuer who deftly launched himself behind a large trunk then lept forward loosing little time in the chase. He had to dodge several more blasts of wind carrying leaves which blurred his vision but he managed to stay on target with relative ease.

The monk had lept from the trees to a crossroad and he seemed to be slowing, Sasuke lept forward to the ground behind and gave chase, drawing a shuriken.

Aang saw the predator land and gain ground quickly, he turned and ran as fast as he could accross the road, kicking up dust and rocks into a cloud behind him.

Sasuke was caught in the cloud just as he reached the road, he saw rocks and leaves fly into the air around him... and he realised at just the last minute what they were.

The tagged kunai collided with each-other and then with the scroll, there was an explosion of blue flame that spiraled upward toward the sun, tendrals of blue energy grabbed the ninjas hands and feet as he was caught in his own trap.

"Chidori!"

Chirping energy cut through the tendrils from the kunai tags now circling around him, he lept away and realised his mistake, the scroll was still on him, attached to his back with blue ink that veined outward into his skin. This was not good, he could deal with it, but the Airbender would have to wait.

Aang watched with relative surprise, he had assumed the scroll wasn't mundane, maybe it had a gas can inside, but he had never expected something like that. He surveyed the remaining kunai with caution as he moved to the three Ninja on the ground.

Naruto seemed to have stopped glowing but the other two were still unconscious. This whole place was dangerous and he couldn't wait for that other guy to come back, or leave the three he had attacked at his mercy.

Aang looked around cautiously, making sure no one was around, then he spun, kicking up dust in a 12 foot radius around them. Once obscured he looked around once more, then spread his stance, lifted his hands above his head, wrists bent in.

A single sharingan eye watched from behind white hair that veiled it's presence.

Aang shoved down in a strong powerful movement. There was a sound like an avalanche, and when the dust settled, the road appeared empty, but for one slight circular indentation, 12 feet around and an inch deep.


	5. The Cave of Two Laughters

(( I don't own Naruto or Avatar TLA ))

There is a cool breeze, the smell of ocean water, a seagulls call, a narrative cliche, and then eyes open.

They sat in a small cave nestled in a cliff-side overlooking the ocean.

Three figures close together. A girl with pink hair laid her hands on the back of a man with white locks, a mask obscuring his face. The girls hands began to glow and a look of intense concentration shone from her eyes.

The blond in black and orange, the third member, sat up and surveyed his surroundings. A tunnel stretched back into darkness to his right, to his left by the cave opening sat a young monk debranching a long stick and looking out at the ocean with almost sentimental appraise.

"What happened to Kakashi?" asked Naruto.

Sakura said one word. "Sasuke."

Naruto looked down at his hands, then felt his stomach, he was hungry. He searched his pack and found some rice cakes to devour in under 20 seconds.

"How are you feeling?" asked Sakura absentmindedly as she tended to Kakashi's kunai wound.

"mmerrlrht." replied Naruto through stuffed face of rice cake.

"Where are we?"

"In a cave. Aang brought us here. He defeated Sasuke. Kakashi would be dead if he hadn't saved us."

Naruto looked to the young boy, a few years younger than himself. He still found it unnerving when he met people who were so young and so powerful. He'd run into such people before, but something about Aang was... different, he seemed practiced instead of overwhelmed by his gifts.

Aang turned to the others.

"Kakashi would never have been attacked if you hadn't taken me with you." he said quietly.

Kakashi responded firmly "Don't think like that. None of us knew Sasuke was after you. We put you in danger by trusting him."

Naruto and Sakura became visibly more melancholy.

"I still don't understand, why was your friend after me anyway? Why did he attack all of you?" Aang queried.

"He wanted us out of the way." said Sakura matter-of-factly.

"He wanted to get you alone, it was the best chance of capturing you alive." continued Kakashi.

"To do what?" asked both Naruto and Aang together.

Kakashi and Sakura gave each-other a knowing look.

"It's complicated... " began Kakashi after a moments pause "... but basically, he wants power, and he thought he could get it from you."

"What does he want to do with power?" pressed Aang.

"Kill his brother." said an increasingly depressed Naruto.

Aang's eyes narrowed and he gave them all a surveying glance before standing up.

"I'm not sure I like getting involved in this."

"Now that Sasuke has seen what you can do, and you've beaten him once, he won't stop coming after you."

Aang turned and glared... "Is that all this is? Some big head butting contest? Do anything you can to get stronger and who cares who gets hurt or killed along the way? That's not power." Aang turned and stared off towards the horizon, his eyes slightly glazed, deep in thought.

The three Ninja looked at Aang, and for a moment it seemed as if they were looking at him for the first time. They had seen him glowing and terrible, and that had been awing, but now, he looked neither like the force of will speaking with a thousand voices, nor like the young light-hearted monk. He looked ancient.

Naruto began to laugh spontaneously. "I bet I COULD beat Sasuke in a headbutting contest!"

Sakura and Kakashi jumped, a bit startled, then kakashi chuckled and Sakura glared at naruto. "I bet you could."

"I'd win because my head has gotten so hard from all the times you've hit me Sakura." laughed Naruto.

Aang's lips turned up and he laughed along with Naruto, letting his deeper thoughts fly free.

Aang and Naruto looked at eachother for a moment in recognition of something shared between them.

Sakura fumed.

Inner Sakura screamed profanities until she ran out of chalk outline breath.

//Thanks for reviewing, you're a doll stormy. Next: The Road to Konoho.


	6. The Road to Konoho Is mostly trees

***

First off, Thank you for all the reviews good and bad, the bad ones help me to see my flaws as a writer, the good ones help me to see my strengths and encourage me to keep writing.

Ok on with the story.

*********************

((I do not own Naruto or Avatar))

Chapter 6: The road to Konoho.

The sun hung lazily in the sky as the troop ascended the hill leading to the forest surrounding Konoho.

Aang was amazed at the agility of his companions, able to jump from tree to tree with a practiced ease he had only seen before in the monks of his home temple.

They moved on throughout the early half of the day, and Aang saw several points that looked extremely familiar to him but weren't quite right, a hill here, a grove there. So similar to something he'd seen before but alien somehow, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

When the sun was at it's peak the group stopped for lunch and a quick rest.

Naruto finished his lunch with superhuman speed and then sat near Aang, looking at the monk with intensity.

Aang raised an eyebrow while munching on a bar of some kind of fruit and bread mixture.

"Ummmm something I can do for you?"

Sakura glared at Naruto and tried to say, "Naruto stop being so rude." but it came out "Mr-rtum shtmpb bn-ng sh rde." as she was mid-fruit-bread-bar-bite.

"Don't speak with your mouth full Sakura." said Kakashi "It's rude."

Sakura glared at him so hard he had to turn away.

"Is it the Tattoos?" asked Naruto finally.

"Is what the tattoos?" queried Aang trying to look at the arrow on his forehead and ending up cross-eyed.

"How you beat Sasuke. I don't understand how someone without Jutsu could beat Sasuke, even if he has bendinga." Naruto began "I mean is the Tattoo a seal for some kind of power? Is that how you did that stuff in the forest?"

Sakura and Kakashi were exceptionally quiet, both had wondered something similar but were too polite to ask. Naruto's blunt disregard for propriety could, occasionally, be quite useful.

"Ummm... no, I don't even know if I beat Sasuke, but I got him to run away by making him chase me."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed.

"The Tattoos... " Aang said putting down his fruit-bread-bar and looking suddenly very diplomatic "... were given to the monks of my temple once they had mastered all levels of Airbending. They don't have any special powers... although they do glow sometimes." Aang started questioning the statement... maybe...

"I still don't understand." said Naruto.

Kakashi jibed in "I think what he means is he lead Sasuke into a trap."

"Oh! So you outsmarted him?"

Aang blushed. "I got lucky."

"What I don't understand... " continued Aang "... was how you turned into a Naked Girl, and how you all can jump so high without Airbending. Sauce-kay was so fast, I mean he was next to me one moment and above me the next, how do you do that?"

Kakashi and Sakura looked at each-other, sharing a look of caution as they worried about this nigh-stranger learning Jutsu and whether Tsunade would approve of him knowing any of the secretes of Kono...

"Oh that's easy! I'll show you!"

Damn Naruto. Just Damn him.

"Really? That would be great!" replied Aang with reverberated enthusiasm.

"Well first you have to mold your chakra..."

"Wait wait, you aren't going to turn into a Naked girl again are you?"

"Oh.... uhhhh no, that's a silly Jutsu... yeah. Hahahah" Naruto nervously put his right hand up behind his head.

Aang looked skeptical.

"I'll show you how we jump through the trees. See first we mold the Chakra from our stomach into our feet..."

Naruto closed his eyes to dramatise the point.

"Mold the chakra..." said Aang with a quizzical look.

Naruto continued "Then when we jump we release a tiny bit of it. And it shoots us upward." He demonstrated by launching himself 30 feet up into the air, landing on a nearbye branch.

"It doesn't take a lot of Chakra to do, so it comes back right away." he yelled from above.

Aang turned to Sakura and Kakashi as Naruto jumped around in the trees 'demonstrating', "The Guru taught me that Chakras are pools of energy in the body, and how to let them flow like a natural stream. But he didn't say anything about being able to release the energy."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes that's about right though most Ninja don't learn it like that."

"But I don't remember any Chakras in the feet?" said Aang working something out in his head.

Sakura chimed in this time. "That's because the Chakra energy flows out from the center in lines to reach the extremities, I use that in my healing techniques."

"So there are Chakra 'lines' in the hands and feat?"

Kakashi and Sakura nodded, now struggling with their curiosity as much as their caution. Kakashi particularly wanted to see what this boy was capable of, but worried he might be a threat if taught Jutsu given how much power and skill he had already displayed without it.

Naruto finally alighted, completing his decent with a bow. "See that's how you jump through trees with Chakra!"


	7. Return to the Leaves

Two large wooden gates nestled in a stonewall two thirds the height of the surrounding trees greeted the travelers at the end of the road.

The sentries saluted to the man with the mask covering most of his face and one eye. He nodded as the gates swung open.

The singular girl with pink hair walked side by side with a blond boy of the same age, the sprawling streets and tall buildings solicited a relaxed sigh from them, a return journey which promised comfort and familiarity now at it's end.

The Bald monk walked at the back of the troop, his eyes darting like a birds from building to building, soaking in everything with a look of fascination and puzzled wonder at a television radio, a curiosity toward every native with especial attention to their clothing.

They traveled up the main road past a large temple, it's fountains shot up at arched angles to meet and pass through one another in a graceful display. The road led them to a path up stone steps which ended in a large stone and wood building, it's windows looking out upon a mountain ordained with four faces carved expertly into the rock.

"Team Kakashi reporting from completion of mission D5." was repeated several times between the masked ninja, clerks, guards, and attendants as they passed through shoji screens over beautifully polished wood floors.

Up stairs past tapestries depicting several persons of note in the history of the Village, they finally entered through a wood door and met young blond woman of both physical and authoritative stature behind a desk.

She folded her hands in front of her and waited solemnly.

The white haired man with his mask walked forward and bowed before placing a folder upon the desk before her.

"The mission did not achieve it's objective Tsunade-San, the target was killed before we or Sasuke could get to him."

She nodded as she perused the folder, then looked up at the monk and raised an eyebrow. "Did Sasuke give you any trouble Kakashi?"

Kakashi chuckled nervously, "Of course. But that was expected."

Tsunade brushed back her blond hair and looked over the mission file for an uncomfortable minute before turning to the others.

"Sakura how is the team physically?"

Sakura stepped forward, and in an uncharacteristically official manner recanted the exact injuries that had been received by all, and the treatments she had given as well as her assessment of their current health. She did all this in short elegant yet technical phrases, then bowed.

Tsunade nodded. "Naruto, I would like you and Kakashi to wait here after we're done, I have something to discuss with the two of you."

"HAI TSUNADE-SAN."

Everyone flinched at the voluminous response.

"Now. Your name is Aang isn't it?" Tsunade finally addressed the monk.

Aang stepped forward and bowed with one hand covering the other relaying deliberate officiousness. "Yes ma'am."

Tsunade surveyed the monk further before continuing. "What were you doing in the forest at when my team arrived?"

Aang thought about his answer "I'm not sure how I got there. I'm still not even sure what forest it was. I can't really remember what I was doing before I got there."

"You misunderstand, I mean what specifically."

"I... I was attacked by someone, he did something to me, then I remember a darkness... Who was he anyway?"

Tsunade considered pushing him further but decided against it for the time being. "He was a member of a powerful and dangerous association. My Ninja were tracking him down."

Tsunade took a sip out of tin flask. "Now I understand you are from a temple?"

"Originally..." replied Aang, visibly uncomfortable under the scrutiny "...my people are nomadic. But we grow up in temples."

Tsunade reached into a drawer and polled out a large scroll. She cleared a space on her desk and then carefully unrolled it to reveal a large map.

"Can you show me where your temple is located?"

Aang peered over the desk at the scroll then gave a puzzled look and came closer. "This is the whole world?" He asked incredulously.

"What we've mapped of it yes, though the seas to the east and west have never been fully traversed." replied Tsunade clinically while studying his reaction.

"Where's the Earth Kingdom? It's the biggest continent in the world... none of these countries look right."

He bent over staring at the names looking for anything familiar.

"Fire country... that's where we are now? It's nothing like the fire nation It's in the wrong place... and Village of the Myst??"

Aang looked up beginning to show signs of distress. "I don't understand? There's nothing... nothing I recognize."

Sakura moved forward instinctively and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok Aang, I'm sure we'll find your temple." but even she had the same look of puzzlement.

"I'm... I don't know where I am."

Tsunade rubbed her chin, then put the map away.

"Aang you may go with Sakura, she can show you around and get you set up in Naruto's Apartment building for now. I will check the records and see if we can find a reference to an Air Temple."

Aang nodded but didn't look convinced as he followed Sakura out the door.

Once they were gone Tsunade turned to Naruto and Kakashi.

"Now, Naruto I want you to tell me exactly what happened when Sasuke touched you."


	8. Beautiful Fluttering

(( I do not own naruto or avatar))

Sakura helped Aang get settled in his new apartment, which wasn't too hard because he didn't have anything to unpack. Afterwards they got some Raman noodles which Aang enjoyed quite a lot, and then went for a walk around the city to get Aang oriented to his surroundings.

"It's so beautiful here." said Aang looking at the water that passed beneath the carved wooden bridge as cherry blossoms dropped gently into it from above.

"This is one of my favorite spots." Said Sakura dreamily.

"Really?" Aang queried to keep conversation.

"Yes, my parents met under this tree, they named me after it." sighed Sakura.

Aang smiled. "That's really romantic."

"Yeah... " she sighed again "If only it were true."

Aang raised an eyebrow.

"They met at a garden convention. My dad accidentally spilled manure on my mom."

Aang tried not to laugh.

"It's ok, you can laugh."

Aang chuckled a little.

"So Sakura, " Aang began, changing the subject "Can you show me how to do a jutsu... I think I figured out what Naruto was saying about the jumping, but I dunno..."

"Oh.... well sure... I mean I guess a really simple jutsu can't hurt." Sakura stepped off the bridge onto the water as though it were a flat surface, she walked out to the middle of the stream under the Cherry Blossom Tree.

"How are you doing that!?" asked Aang in surprise.

"Same way we jump, we mold the chakra below our feet so it reflects the energy of the water.... like a magnet kind of." she explained non-nonchalantly.

Aang began a studying look at her and the water.

"Ok, this is a really simple jutsu they teach to a lot of the young girls at the Ninja academy." she stood still and seemed to be meditating for a second.

"First you make one of the 12 hand signs based on the 12 animals of the zodiac."

Aang had no idea what she was talking about but didn't interrupt.

"See like this... Bunny" she made one hand sign "sheep... " another formation of both her hands together "tiger... then you have to call out the jutsu and release the energy through your hands at the same time."

"Beautiful Fluttering No-Jutsu!"

Before Sakura a thousand pink butterflies appeared out of no where, the swarmed upward around Aang giving off a soft pink glow and up into the cherry blossom tree where they swam around it like a current of pink lights. Eventually the lights dimmed and dissipated.

Sakura jumped up onto the railing of the bridge. "And that's how you perform a Jutsu." she bowed gently and then flipped onto the main walkway of the bridge.

"That's amazing! It was so pretty!" exclaimed Aang. "Do you think I can try.... the Jutsu at least?"

"Ummm sure, but if anything feels wrong stop yourself ok and just breath deep and let the energy dissipate." Sakura took his hands and showed him how to form the symbols and then practiced molding the energy from his Chakra into his hands, when she was satisfied with his progress (which she could view via her medical training in feeling out chakra lines) she stepped back to his side and let him give it a try.

"Bunny... Sheep... Tiger.... uhhhh.... " Aang closed his eyes and concentrated "Beautiful Fluttering No-Jutsu!"

**************************************

"Tell me exactly what happened when Sasuke touched you."

"Oh, yeah I was meaning to ask Kakashi about that but I wanted to wait till Sakura and Aang were gone..."

So Naruto recounted for Tsunade and Kakashi the events after Sasuke attacked them.... we're just going to skip to the narrative of it though because naruto can be quite confusing and took up a lot of extra time trying to explain simple things, at some point Kakashi had to hold back Tsunade from beating him up... So here's what happened...

***Inside Naruto***

Naruto watched as Kakashi and Sakura fell beside him, then as he turned he felt a hand on the center of his back behind his naval.

The world went dark and Naruto found himself inside a large cave with a very high ceiling. Before him the cave walls turned in encasing the large steel bars of a cage with a single door...

"nonononono" Naruto muttered looking around, then he noticed, the lock and chain on the door were gone.

Two eyes came out of the darkness behind the bars and an unearthly voice spoke to him.

"Naruto... it looks like our time together is up... " the voice was an inhumanly low growl and naruto held his stomach beginning to shake.

Red-Orange water seeped out of the cage filling the cave floor as the voice laughed, low and malicious.

"I've been trapped here too long, did you think you could keep me trapped here forever? I will be free, through you, and we will wreak havoc and chaos on those who imprisoned me... you will watch me destroy Konoho, as I have watched, trapped inside you..."

"NOOOOO!" Naruto scrambled around frantically he found the chain and ran for the door, but the bubbling orange-fiery water flooded out, pushing him back.

The murky red water began to rise, up to his waist... Naruto struggled for Air as he saw the cage door swing open and the waters covered his head.

"Now Naruto, we will destroy together, and you will pay fo..." but the voice stopped mid sentence.

Naruto saw the eyes of the great and terrible fox looking past him, and he turned in the water.

Standing behind him at the edge of the cave was a girl. A young girl with dark skin and beautiful blue eyes, her hair was braided in the front and pulled back behind her ears with beeds. She looked confused at first then saw Naruto and the great Kitsune.

In blue and white furs she stood, a curious expression on her face, like one who was in a dream.

The Fox growled... "Who are you! You will not stop our release! Get OUT!"

The girl tilted her head to the side and stared at the Kitsune and then again at Naruto, saying nothing.

"We will destroy this world!" The fox growled shaking the walls of the cage and the water rushed forward to envelope her as well.

The girl closed her eyes and calmly stepped back as the water rushed forward. At the last second she spun and thrust her hand forward.

The red liquid stopped as if hit by an invisible barrier. "NO!!!" the Fox screamed again.

The girl bent downward softly then turned and pivoted and spun again in incredibly graceful movements as though she were simply dancing.

The orange bubbling water moved with her and then sped back toward the cage, releasing Naruto it enveloped the fox and dragged it screaming back behind the metal bars.

Then the girl pulled back and raised her hands, the water flew up the bars of the cave like a geyser. "Now." she said.

Naruto ran forward and pulled the chain back around the bars finally closing the lock into place, the whole while a torrent of profanities and insults screamed forth from the darkness beyond but Naruto closed his mind to it.

Finally the girl stepped forward and lowered her hands forward in a soft rolling motion, she breathed out, her eyes closed, and a cold frost emanated from her mouth. The water which covered the cage, froze into a wall of ice, beyond which the tirade of the kitsune died out, inaudible,forgotten.

She turned to Naruto and held out her hand.

As he looked up into the deep blue eyes like two small oceans his vision blurred and he awoke inside another cave, this time overlooking the sea, and the girl turned into pure blue water, the color of the bright summer sky and then reformed it's shape, and became Sakura who was dabbing his head with a wet cloth.

**************

Tsunade was looking at Aangs file once more as Kakashi was drilling Naruto for details...

"Do you remember anything else about her?" he was asking.

"No... " began Naruto... "... oh wait.. she had a Neckl..."

But Naruto was cut off by the sound of a million wings. The office flooded from the window with beautiful pink-glowing butterflies of every hue between red and white.

"What the F..." cried Tsunade rushing to the window and batting them out of her eyes.

As she looked out she saw Konoho, or she saw the shape of Konoho, covered in a magnificent glowing sea of swarming pink


	9. Sea of Pink

((Verily I own not Avatar nor Naruto))

"Aang! Get rid of them quick! omgomgomg I'm in so much trouble..." a pink outline of Sakura was yelling at a fluttery pink snow-man shaped monk.

"How!? You didn't show me how!"

"AAAAAAAA TSUNADE-SAMA IS GUNNA HURT ME SO BAD!" Sakura cried.

"I dunno what to do! All I can see is pink!" exclaimed Aang desperately.

"Just just... let the energy go... air jutsu them away or something!"

"I can't move I might crush them!"

"They're just Jutsu butterflies! They aren't real!"

"How do you know!? They look pretty alive to me! I can't kill them if I have any choice!"

"I am going to beat the living snot out of you when we get out of this! Stupid Pacifist Monk!"

"Gaah!?"

"I mean... errr... why don't you just try something that moves your arms..."

Fluttery-pink Aang breathed in and out slowly and then spun his arms over around his head bringing them almost together in front of his stomach, fists facing eachother.

This only served to exhaserbate the problem. The butterflies began whirling around like a tornado spreading outward from Aang. Sakura watched as her own personal coat of pink spun into the air, blinding her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Slowly however the butterflies moved outward, swirling around and around but creating a sphere of empty space which grew outward from Aang.

The monk looked around but held his stance. His eyes nervously darted this way and that watching as they expanded in a circle.

Within 5 minutes the butterflies had expanded into a massive pink dome over the entire Village of Konoho, blotting out the sun and replacing it with a swirling pink sky that shone a soft pink light on everything below it.

Sakura gasped softly and put her hand to her mouth. "Aang... h... how?... Did you see what you just did?"

"That's what I would like to know." said a deep matronly voice from their right.

Tsunade walked up the path toward the bridge followed by Kakashi, Naruto, and a Dozen Konoho Ninja gaurd.

"I... I'm sorry!" said Aang, afraid to move from his stance. "I just wanted to see how to do a Jutsu, and I guess I did it wrong... it was my fault."

"Yes yes it was his fault! He made me show him with his Air-Bending-a!"

Aang glared at Sakura.

Tsunade stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"First things first... Aang right?" She began.

Aang Nodded Affirmatively.

"We need to get rid of this Jutsu. It doesn't appear to be dangerous, but you can't stand like that all day. So I want you to let the energy go." continued Tsunade.

"I don't know how! I'm sorry!" Aang pleaded.

"Well it appears as though the Jutsu responds to your movements... I heard Sakura tell you to try your Airbending-a, and that's what you're doing now to hold them over the city correct?" speculated Tsunade.

Aang nodded and said "It's 'Air Bending'" under his breath.

"Then I want you to think about that. How would you get rid of something with your... " she tried the phrase "'Air Bending'?"

Aang thought for a moment then nodded to Tsunade. "I think I know."

"Alright then lets try that shall we?" Tsunade both requested and commanded.

Aang closed his eyes and brought his stance together. His arms stretched above his head and his hands pointed flat, palms down.

The Ninja Gaurd watched with apprehension and reached for their kunai instinctively as the pink dome responded, swirling upward and massing together.

Then the bald monk moved his stance wider again, this time slowly, and brought his hands down gently to sit at wast level before him.

The mass of Jutsu-Butterflies swarmed together at first and began to swirl down like a tornado, even Tsunade moved into a more defensive stance at this. But then, about 10 feet above the tallest buildings of Konoho the Jutsu-Butterfly-Tornado blended together and then gently spread out, this time not as individual fluttering shapes but as, what looked like, a wave of pure color which splashed down upon the village touching and interrupting nothing. The wave spread out into individual streams of different hues, glowing bright in the once more visible sun-light. They spread and "splashed" outward from Aang, becoming thinner and less visible, until they seemed like ghosts traveling outward from the city, and finally phaded into an ether of invisibility.

The gathered Ninja and the villagers of Konoho stared incoherently at Aang. Some of the villagers pointed. Others grabbed their children and pulled them down alleyways or into shops.

Aang watched them with sad eyes. So did Naruto, he knew what this meant for Aang as he had been the target of it his whole life.

Tsunade finally composed herself, lifted a hand to relieve the Ninja guard with her, and bowed to Aang respectfully.

"Thank you Aang-San, It is a good measure of trust that you will do what you can for the good of our village."

Aang bowed in his traditional Monk form.

"I scared everyone didn't I?" he said sadly.

Tsunade regarded him for a moment. "Yes, you probably did. And I think it's a good idea we get you inside for the night. Naruto please take Aang back to your building and see that he is safely in-doors."

Naruto bowed quickly. "Hai Tsunade-Sama!"

As he dragged Aang away at a quick pace, the young monk looked over his shoulder. He saw Sakura mouth the words "I'm Sorry". And heard Tsunade call to them.

"And no more Jutsu's!"


	10. Letting Go

((I don't own Avatar or Naruto))

The apartment was small. The front door opened onto a tiny sitting room with a table and an old cushioned bench across one wall. To the left was a kitchenette with a refrigerator, sink, and a few cupboards. A sliding Shoji door on the right led off to a tiny bedroom with a ply-wood desk and dresser. Another on the same side opened onto a bathroom with a sink, toilet, and compact standing shower.

Aang was absolutely amazed. He opened the refrigerator and closed it again and again, watching the light turn on and off and feeling the cold air come out. He turned on the faucets and watched the water swirl into the drain and wondered if it was the same water and if it worked on pressure. He stared for about ten minutes at the toilet, rather puzzled, then played with the shower, eventually discovering that if you turned the nob one way the water got very very hot.

Eventually he helped himself to something food-like in the cupboard and sat in the center of the sitting room which had the biggest window. He put his hands together, one fist resting against the other to create a complete circle of energy through his body. He closed his eyes and emptied his mind, allowing his thoughts and feelings to drift freely, detached. Soon he felt a slight hum around him, felt his mind expand from his body and his senses, and opened his eyes.

Aang was standing atop a tall mountain peak surrounded by clouds which stretched in every direction to the horizon. Before him stood an ancient looking man with a short white beard and a black crown with gold trimming holding his long silvery hair up into a bun.

"Avatar Roku." said Aang, smiling in relief.

"Hello Aang." answered Roku with a twinkle in his eye.

"I need your help." began Aang "I'm lost, I don't know where I am, and everything here is so strange. I don't.... I don't even know if I'm even in my world anymore."

Roku Smiled knowingly. "Aang, you are always in your world. The sepperation of worlds, time and space, dimensions are illusions in much the same way the sepperation of Elements or people are."

Aang pondered this for a moment. "But I am not where I came from, it's not the same, and I can't find Katara or Sokka or even the Fire Nation."

"Aang you are the Avatar. The great bridge. You will find your friends and your home if you look hard enough. But do not forget, **you** are the Avatar, you are not simply the host of a great spirit. If you think you brought yourself to this place, it is most likely for a reason. Learn more about where you are before deciding to be somewhere else."

With that the wind picked up and the clouds swirld around him, blocking his vision. When the vortex cleared Aang was sitting back in the appartment looking out the large windows at the orange sky of a setting sun.

Aang sat for a while in meditation. Reassessing in his head for some time he decided that Roku's advice was probably right. He breathed deeply and cleared his mind, and preparing for what he had to do. A single tear trickled down his cheek as he felt the pain of letting go of his desire to find his friends, his home, Appa... Katara... His heart ached, and he felt a tug like he was pulling part of himself out of his chest. But a thread held on tightly, a single thread, and with one final calming breath, he released it, and felt his desires drift away. At the same time his own body felt lighter, untethered and he drifted in a freedom of transcendent serenity as he felt the weight of his desires leave him.

No longer in conflict with himself, or tethered to want, he felt more harmonious, aware, and he soon had the distinct impression that someone was standing right outside his door, and had been there for some time.

Standing up quietly he moved to the door opening it quickly. He saw a flash of orange beside it and heard a muffled "Eep!".

"Ummm.... Naruto?" Aang said looking up and down the hall, then up at the ceiling where Naruto was squatting upside down.

"Aang-Kun! Look at this cieling! IT's so dirty it needs to be washed you know!" Naruto spoke a bit too loudly.

"Naruto... Would you like to come in?" said Aang stepping aside and holding the door open?

"Oh no I'm Fine... have to clean the ceiling..." began Naruto but Aang cut in...

"I know you're guarding me, it's ok. But you can come in if you want." offered Aang.

Naruto stopped pretending to clean the ceiling with his forehead protector and dropped to the ground, right side up. "Well Tsunade only told me to keep an eye on you, she didn't 'SAY' I had to stand in the hall all night."

Aang smiled as he let Naruto in and watched the young Ninja flop onto the long wooden bench. Aang got another food type bar thing (he guessed) from the refrigerator and sat down on the other end of the bench, turning to Naruto and giving him half of his food stuff.

After munching on the bar for a minute Naruto turned to Aang "That Jutsu was Amazing."

Aang smiled for a moment before looking down at the floor, a somber expression on his face "Everyone is scared of me now though, aren't they?"

Naruto looked serious for about five seconds before he smiled and said "It's ok, you just made a lot more butterflies than most people. But they were just butterflies."

Aang gave a half smile.

"People used to look at me like that." confided Naruto "Some of them still do."

"Why?" Asked Aang, surprised.

"Because... " Naruto chose his words carefully. "Because before I was born, someone nearly destroyed Konoho. And when people look at me, I remind them of it I guess."

Aang didn't press but regarded Naruto thoughtfully.

"And I guess, because I don't have parents... it made it worse, I felt more like an outsider."

Aang smiled. "I don't have parents either."

"You don't?" asked Naruto.

"None of the Air Nomads did. There are four Air Temples where I'm from, and when a child was born they were sent to one of the other temples as a baby. So no one ever knew who their parents were."

"Why? Why wouldn't they want kids to know there parents?" Naruto exclaimed.

Aang bit his lip softly. "I guess... because if no one knew who was who's child, then all the children were treated equally. There wasn't any favoritism, and... well it sort of made it like a really big spread out family."

"That sounds kind of nice." said Naruto. "Kind of like I think of Konoho as my family now."

Aang nodded.

"Aang!" said Naruto standing up energetically "I, Naruto, will help you reunite with your big Air Family."

Aang looked suddenly despond ant.

"What... what's wrong Aanng-Kun." Naruto perplexed, tilted his head slightly. "I'm kind of loud sometimes... I'm sorry..."

"It's not that... " Aang said softly "... Thank you Naruto... but you can't help me find them."

"Why not?" Naruto seemed incredulous, anyone saying he couldn't do anything just seemed preposterous to the young Genin.

"Because... " Aang began, taking on a more matter-of-fact tone "Because they're all dead. The Fire Nation killed them all when I was 12."

Naruto looked confused and a bit thunderstruck. "You don't mean Kono..."

"No." said Aang. "I don't think my Fire Nation is the same as your Fire Country."

Naruto sat back down looking slightly defeated, then offered... "But you're alive... maybe..."

"No." said Aang again, this time with a note of cold bitterness in his voice. "I'm the last Airbender."

There was a silence before Aang spoke up again. "But.. my friends are my family now. Sometimes you make your family."

Aang looked at Naruto and Naruto looked at Aang, and there was a moment of unspoken recognition, and a feeling of something shared passed through each of them once more.

"Then I'll help you find them." Naruto declared definitively.

Aang smiled wide.

Outside the window, on the roof, Kakashi listened intently while pretending to thumb through a book.


	11. The Scroll

((I do not own Avatar or Naruto))

**// **Also thank you so much to all of the people marked this story as a favorite and/or reviewed. I am extreemly gratefull to you all.

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Chapter 11: The Scroll

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The sun woke Aang up early, the light streamed in through the large windows in the sitting room and he walked out, bleary eyed and drowsy.

Naruto had shown him how the shower and bathroom worked and Aang enjoyed the warm cleansing feel of hot water on his skin for a solid 15 minutes before stepping out and raising his hands, pulling the water off him into a ball and sending it down the drain with the wave of one hand.

As Aang was deciding what to eat for breakfast, and if in fact anything in the large metal cooling cupboard was edible, a knock came from the door.

Aang pulled on his shirt and opened the door to find Naruto rocking on the balls of his feet.

"Aang-Chan! Tsunade-Sama wants me to take you to meet her!" cried Naruto happily.

Aang winced... Does_everything Naruto says have to come out as a yell?... _he thought before nodding and pulling on his shoes.

Walking through the streets in the still cool morning, they made there way toward the south end. The rising morning fog wavered in streams of piercing sunlight giving the village, Aang noted, a more refreshing natural look.

Finally the road wound away from the throng of tall buildings, through some small rice fields and farming homes, and ended abruptly in front of a two story brown building that looked as though it were made out of hardened clay.

"The house of Archives." Naruto explained, gesturing inward with a tilt of his head.

The inside of the building again had that strangely familiar look to it, it reminded Aang of something but he couldn't tell exactly what until they entered the lobby. It was a large, open, circular room with pillars dotting around the perimeter, a second floor balcony looking inward and shelf upon shelf of well kept scrolls. On the far wall, however, there was a large scroll, unravelled decoratively and upon it were some words Aang couldn't read; but most importantly, a very distinctive, stylized drawing of an unnaturally large owl.

Aangs eyes widened for a moment but he didn't say anything as several other people were now entering from various archways. First Tsunade and her assistant carrying what looked like a pet pig, then Kakashi and another man dressed similarly but a bit younger with brown hair pulled up into spikes.

Finally Sakura entered with another young woman. Aang had to keep himself from doing a double take as this girl was familiar in her own way. Dark hair hung down covering most of her forehead and she had two long black bangs which framed her face, her eyes, however, were pale grey and pupil-less. Aang mistook her just long enough for his heart to leap and fall until the disappointment was replaced with an intense curiosity.

"Aang-Kun..." Tsunade stepped forward and bowed politely though only very slightly "... I am glad you could join us. We have been looking into your... situation, and I believe we may have stumbled across something. Come this way please."

As Tsunade led the way through one archway and down a long spiral-stone staircase, Aang distinctly overheard Sakura whisper to the grey-eyed girl... "Tsunade-Sama is being so polite... it's weird."

After about five minutes the staircase opened onto a stone hallway and the group traveled through what felt like a maze of corridors until finally coming to a dead end.

Tsunade turned to Kakashi and said something.

"Tsunade-Sama!?" came Naruto's voluminous voice, echoing shrilly through the corridor "Why did we stop in front of a wall?! What does a wall have to do with Aang-Chan?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but Aang spoke up first. "That's not a wall..." he said "... Not just a wall... there's something off about it."

Tsunade gave Aang a piercing look before nodding to Kakashi who stepped to the wall, cut his finger on a kunai and pressed his hand to the wall, letting the blood flow down.

Immediately lines and figures appeared, circling out from his hand, and in another moment, the wall vanished revealing another small stone room, this one with a table in the center and lined with shelves of scrolls.

The group walked in and Tsunade gestured for them to sit around the table before turning to her assistant who retrieved two scrolls from one of the shelves and placed them before her.

"Aang-Kun, we show you these scrolls in good faith, and we wish to keep trust between you and the village of Konoho..." began Tsunade in a serious tone.

Aang, Sakura, Naruto and the pale eyed girl gave eachother blank looks. Something about the way Tsunade was talking and the secrecy of the whole enterprise felt impending.

"Every so often, every several hundred years in fact, a child is born to our people who has a special gift." Tsunade paused for effect before continuing "This gift is extremely powerful, and quite a burden, the children do not usually live very long, but in their lifetime they are able to..."

Aang watched as Tsunade seemed to be choosing her next words very carefully.

"... describe events which have not yet taken place."

Sakura's eyes widened, as did Naruto's and Aangs, but the pale eyed girl just looked stoic.

"Most often they are encouraged to write down what they perceive, and those scrolls are then kept here, the best kept secrets of Konoho."

Tsunade took a sip of something out of a silver flask before continuing. "We included them in the search for your temple Aang, but we never expected to find... well..."

Tsunade took another sip from her flask, then unraveling the scroll in front of her halfway from the bottom she turned it on the table so it was right side up to Aang sitting across from her.

The brown parchment was ordained with the same stylized brush strokes in black ink, the revealed section contained a single image that took up it's entire width and length. A figure seemed to be hovering in the very center, tattoo lines ran down it's body, arms and legs ending in single arrowheads at each extremity and the center of the forehead. The figure had it's hands together before it as though cupping a large ball, and between them were four symbols with which Aang was very familiar.

Aang nearly blanched, he pushed his chair back and looked down, very somber.

A tense silence lasted for a minute before Aang finally spoke up "What does it say about me?"

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**//PS: **Reviews and feedback of all kinds are very welcome. At the very least it helps me delegate my time to what people are actually reading :)


	12. The Poem: Byakugan

((I do not own Naruto or Avatar))

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Chapter 12: "The Poem: Byakugan"

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The small room was lit by four gas lanterns and a single candle on the long wooden table. The shelves were made of thick-unfurnished holly-wood, each containing row after row of carefully stacked scrolls, all sealed with a symbol of a leaf.

The seven conspirators sat around the table staring at each-other in a tense silence, so quiet, one could almost hear the beat of each individual heart. A statuesque woman with white-blond hair by the name of Tsunade sat at the head of the table across from a young bald monk. Five Ninja sat on either side, their hands folded, their heads turned expectantly toward Tsunade.

"So this is you?" Tsunade said after letting the silence continue for a full minute. She pointed to a partly unraveled scroll upon which was a stylized drawing that looked very like the monk, right down to the tattoos, except it had no pupils, it's hands cupping four symbols and it's body positioned as though it were floating rather than standing.

The monk looked down at the table, avoiding eye contact. "Yes." he answered at length "Sort of."

Tsunade nodded. "Do you know what this scroll says?" she queried.

"No." replied Aang incredulously, "That's why I asked."

Tsunade sat back, sighed, and turned to the young ninja on her right with the clear grey eyes. "Hinata, if you would?"

Hinata took the scroll, unrolling it and facing it toward her on the table, then she put her hands together and made a symbol for one of the 12 zodiac signs... "Byakugan!"

Aang winced as the young ninjas eyes glazed over and veins became prevalent around their edges, it looked rather painfull from the young monks perspective.

"Only those with the Byakugan blood trait like Hinata..." explained Tsunade gesturing to the young woman with the scroll "... can read these scrolls, to ensure their knowledge will not be stolen by other Ninja clans."

Hinata waited for Tsunade to finish and give her a nod before she began to read aloud.

_"I see the land in forest,_

_the village hidden in the myst,_

_the winds of change pull forward,_

_the hidden leaf will soar,_

_from those with lust and fear contriving,_

_the wisdom-less and sage,_

_and from the earth I see it rising,_

_the early ending of an age,_

_but in the darkest light shall shine,_

_the great beyond undying bridge,_

_to waken Archons from their shrine,_

_to right the rift and glance the edge,_

_in hidden myst holds frozen matron,_

_in sanded tomb holds newly born,_

_in fiery mount' holds burning hatred,_

_in glassy tower the soundless horn,_

_in this, my sight, what must prevail,_

_or death shall surely lift the veil,_

_and bring an ending to the leaves,_

_the rest shall fall as much as these,_

_so do not rest or wait the score,_

_or life and worth shall fall before,_

_it comes."_

As soon as she finished Hinata rolled the scroll back up and placed it in front of Tsunade, sitting quietly, her eyes shifting back to normal.

"So Aang, what do you make of this?" Tsunade asked at length.

Aang looked around, everyone was staring at him. He sighed, letting out a deep breath.

"I don't understand everything..." Aang began "...but I can tell you who I am."

Tsunade gave a quick sideways glance to Kakashi, then looked back at Aang and her eyes widened as she saw a soft glow emanating from the boys tattoos, illuminating the small stone room.

Aang opened his eyes, which glowed a hot blue light. Naruto and Sakura flinched. Kakashi's hand went for his kunai, but before he could stand up Aang spoke, or something spoke from him. It sounded like a chorus of voices speaking in unison, and no one in the room could help but feel power emanating from the monk in waves.

**_"I am the Avatar. Master of all Four Elements. I am the bridge between worlds, the balance in-carnate, the light that shines in the void. I have lived a thousand lives in a thousand lifetimes..."_**

Tsunade stared intently at the being sitting across from her. Naruto looked down and pensive. Sakura, Hinata, and the fifth ninja just stared. But Kakashi looked as if he were going to go into hysterics, his Sharingan eye fully formed and darting across Aangs features, he held onto the table as if to keep himself from flying away in a great wind.

**_"... and I am needed here and now."_**

Aangs eyes closed and the glow began to fade. Finally he looked up and smiled in a rather nervous fasion reminiscent of Naruto.

"... but that's pretty much all I got. Heheh." .

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**TY again to my reviewers, u kick ass. If you have suggestions or comments feel free to join in, or just pm me with the awesome new fanfiction private messaging system! Cherio's!**


	13. Deliberage

((I do not own Avatar or Naruto))

**Response to reviews; I will not reveal future plot-lines, otherwise what would be the point of y'all reading them. However, I will say that I have a tendency to foreshadow, so keep an eye aimed where the lights not hitting.**

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Chapter 13: "Deliberage"

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The sun shown on the faces carved into the mountain, Aang sat outside the tall wood and stone building at it's foot.

Seeking higher ground the monk nimbly jumped up the side of the mountain, the wind rushing up, lifting him to the very top of the mountain where he could see the entire village and surrounding country. A sea of green forest stretched around the walls of Konoho to the horizon in one direction and a mountain range in the other. The people of Konoho moved around at casual mid-day paces, staring into the blaring sun, oblivious to the events of the morning...

Well... most of them anyway...

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Inside the semi crowded office sat Kakashi, Tsunade, Sakura, A man with spiky brown hair and a green uniform the head of the Konoho Ninja force, Hinata and her father Hiashi.

"The boy may be a threat." said Hiashi Hyuga sternly. "The scroll could very well be foreboding his arrival. It would be prudent of us to keep a very close eye on him and not..." at this he gave Sakura a disapproving sideways glance "... to share anymore of Konoho's secrets with him."

Sakura diminished but Naruto opened his mouth and raised a finger to protest, however Tsunade cut in first.

"Secrets Hiashi? Secrets like the existence of the Hyuga Seer Scrolls?" asked Tsunade demurely with one eyebrow raised ever-so-slightly.

Hiashi realised his mistake and bowed quickly... "My apologies Tsunade-Sama, I did not mean to imply..."

Tsunade just nodded. "I think you meant to imply quite a lot, you just had another target, Hiashi. No matter, what you say is worth considering."

Hiashi bowed again respectfully but said nothing.

Naruto couldn't contain himself. "But Tsunade-Sama!? You don't really think Aang-Kun is a threat to Konoho do you?! He just wants to find his home!"

Tsunade held up a hand to quiet Naruto (as well as avoid some unintentional projectile saliva). "You have spent the most time with The Monk Naruto, you will give your opinion of him if and when I ask for it and not before, is that understood?"

With tremendous effort Naruto held his tongue, fidgetting in place from the strain.

Kakashi spoke up "The Scroll spoke of a great undying bridge, and the... Avatar did describe itself as a bridge between worlds."

"He also said he was hear because he was needed." added Sakura.

"He may have just been feeding you what you wanted to hear." responded Hiashi "You read him the scroll before he revealed his true self."

Hinata said something so quietly that everyone had to look at her and tilt their heads. Hiashi either didn't notice or didn't acknowledge.

"Did you have something to add Hinata?" prodded Tsunade.

In a very very quiet voice, almost a whisper, Hinata spoke, staring intently at the floor. "I only mentioned that the image looked much like the Boy-Monk, and that it was holding symbols in it's hands."

Kakashi caught on... "Yes... there were four and one of them looked like fire... The Avatar said it was the Master of All Four Elements."

Tsunade nodded, taking a sip from a tin bottle.

"We cannot trust him." repeated Hiashi, "We know nothing about him, and the Hyuga Seers are often maliciously cryptic. I say we keep him in the prison until we can confirm or deny his true identity."

"I understand your skepti..." but Tsunade was cut short. Naruto was fidgeting had become so bad that he was literally hopping up and down in place and hand knocked over a vase and an end-table.

"FLYING FUCKING HORSE SHIT NARUTO! WHY CANT YOU ACT LIKE A NINJA FOR FIVE MINUTES!" everyone jumped as Tsunade stood up, placing her hands on the sides of her desk, bellowing at Naruto.

"Granny TSUNADE!" yelled Naruto, right back at her. "We cant put Aang-Kun in prison! He SAVED OUR LIVES!! HE FOUGHT OFF SASUKE AND BROUGHT US TO SAFETY!! HE'S A GOOD PERSON!!"

_**"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME GRANNY TSUNADE DURRING OFFICIAL KONOHO BUSINESS!!"**_

Tsunade shook with anger and frustration, her nails digging deep into the wood of her desk and one hand held up holding the tin bottle as if to throw it in the direction of the young blond Genin.

The next second Kakashi was holding her wrist and prying her other arm off the desk saying quietly "Breathe, breathe... remember to breathe..."

Seething Tsunade finally lifted her hand from the desk (breaking off a large piece of it which everyone promptly ignored), sat down, took a sip from the tin bottle and ran her hands back through her hair waiting for her blood pressure to drop.

Hinata and Sakura looked shocked, but Hiashi and the head of the Konoho Ninja simply looked the other way, pretending to be fascinated by the nearest inanimate object. Tsunade's temper was legendary, but to Konoho it was such a frequent event that the older citizens politely ignored it, the way they ignored the screech monkeys in mating season.

Tsunade finally spoke, acting as though she had never carried herself with anything but the utmost composure. "I agree, with Naruto, Aang has done nothing but help our Ninja, he has shown respect and kindness to myself and our village. We will watch him carefully, but we will treat him as an ally for now."

Everyone, including Hiashi, bowed (though the head of the Hyuga clan did so with the least amount of pomp he could muster).

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**There we go, the Naruto/Tsunade relationship is so... charismatic.**

**Reviews always happily accepted and appreciated.**


	14. Questioning

(I don't own Naruto or Avatar TLA)

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Chapter 14: "Questioning"

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The wind was quiet but cool in the mid-afternoon, leaves swam through the air and alit on the painted wooden homes and cement walkways.

A large green building painted to look as though it were made of bamboo stood accross from a fenced in school.

The gigantic green wooden gated wall lined the village into a fortress. No movement obscured the scene but little blurs that marked the shift changes of the Konoho Ninja Guard.

Aang watched Konoho from above, his perspective perched upon the top of the mountain overlooking the village allowing him to see Konoho fully for the first time. There were so many things about the Village that were completely alien to the young monk, but at the same time he couldn't shake a feeling of familiarity that had haunted him since he'd awoke in the forest the day before.

An orange blur moved in his direction, silhouetted momentarily by the sun as it streaked across the afternoon sky.

Aang stood as Naruto landed with hardly a sound before him. "Aang-Kun! The council has finished, they want to talk to you!"

"Is it good news?" asked Aang hesitantly, already picking the best escape rout through Konoho should it not be.

"Yes! Couldn't you tell by how excited I am?!" Naruto belted.

"Ummmm... yeah..." Aang followed Naruto over the tops of buildings, keeping up fairly easy but still amazed by the agility of the Ninja.

They landed on the balcony of a large room in the same building as Tsunade's office. Naruto led Aang inside revealing three long tables stacked with papers behind which sat some mature looking people with official badges on their outfits. There were also several little teams of Ninja dotted around the spaceous room.

Naruto brought Aang over to a table beside which sat Kakashi, Sakura and the girl with the oddly tophlike grey eyes, Hinata.

"The council has agreed to pursue the subject of the scroll, so they're sending my team..." said Kakashi after greeting Aang. "Along with hinata, and, she has agreed to let you come too."

"Sending you where?" Aang puzzled.

"To the village of the Myst, it is one of the clearest places mentioned on the scroll, our contacts in Anbu say they have some information relating to an ice-woman, though it is a little unclear, this is a fact finding mission." Kakashi explained.

"Well, I guess I'll come too then, I'm as much in the dark about all this as you are." Aang decided. "Is the Village of the Myst in the north or south pole?" Aang asked.

"No...." Kakashi gave Aang a questioning look. "We are to leave immediately, we should be able to make it by noon tomorrow. Narruto and Sakura go ahead and pack some gear for Aang, and maybe, a change of clothes?"

Aang looked down at his monks robes, "I don't want to change, I'm proud of my people."

Kakashi nodded, "Understandably, but you are going to stand out looking like that, and since we already know Sasuke is after you, it might do for you not to draw attention to yourself."

Aang sighed.

Sakura turned to the monk "Aang-Kun, the Konoho Ninja work best in stealth and secret. It will be safer for all of us if you aren't to obviously foreign."

"It's ok Aang-Kun!" Naruto rang in "We will make sure you don't lose your people's clothes! But this way you can come with us and everyone will think you're just from Konoho, otherwise we might have to hide you and blending in is better than hiding out!"

Aang raised an eyebrow. "Alright."

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The sun was beginning to decline rapidly as the four Ninja and the one monk dressed like a ninja (with a tight green wrap covering his head and a head-band baring the symbol of Konoho) walked through the main gates of Konoho and lept up into the trees, moving away to the east.

They traveled on through the dusk and dead of night, Aang keeping pace with the Ninja by bending a current of Air around him in a path through the trees, finally they stopped and set up camp on a hill under a small clearing.

They made no fire though the night was cold, upholding their code of stealth against the elements. One by one they drifted off to sleep, leaving Kakashi on the first watch in a tree high above them.

Aang thought about his friends and his home, reminding himself of the faces and voices of his loved ones as he allowed sleep to overtake him for what felt like a few moments before he awoke to a feeling of unrightness, and the thought that was something very wrong with the forest.

The monk turned as he opened his eyes to see a feint pink dust falling from above, acting on instinct he spun on his back swinging his legs in a circle that created a funnel of air, pushing the dust into a cloud high above the camp sight.

Aang looked around getting his bearings and gasped at the limp form of Kakashi lying at the bottom of a tree. The others will fast asleep in there bags.

"Naruto! Sakura! Wake up!"

No sooner had the words left his lips than a vine shot out from the trees behind him, wrapped itself around his arm and began pulling him off into the forest.

But his warning did some good, Naruto openned bleary eyes too late as vines spun around his sleeping form and began to tighten pulling him in the same direction as Aang, but Hinata and Sakura were already on their feet.

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura as she cut a vine pulling at her wrist with a kunai in her spare hand.

Hinata put her hands together and called "Byakugan!" as she spun around looking into the forest.

"There she called!" and a tangle of vines sped from the place she pointed.

Sakura was cutting away at another group of vines around her waist which quickly spread to her legs and tripped her, knocking the Kunai out of her free hand before spreading up her body and covering her mouth.

Hinata ran toward the struggling forms of Naruto Aang and Sakura, now bound up to the nose looking like humongously deformed writhing worms.

A tangle of vines sped from the trees in all directions as she came closer, but Hinata struck out with lightning speed at each of them, extending Chakra from the tips of her fingers which shone in the air like thin beams of light before slicing through the vines.

She couldn't make any progress, she saw her teem-mates pulled into the forest, and though she cut through every tendril as they advanced from every angle around her, they simply regrew and kept coming, she could not move forward, but she could hold her ground.

"Naruto! Sakura!" Yelled the dark haired Genin as she spun like a top, cutting through the onslaught of flora like it were paper.

But no sound came, finally she began to tire, she could not keep this up forever, and though her Byakugan eyes could clearly see the three figures standing over her bound teammates in the forest she could do not but barely stave off the assault.

Half an hour passed and hinata began to sweat, striking left, right up, down, her forms gracefull and exact as she cut through vine after vine, finally she countered a tendril coming from behind too slowly and it got hold of her wrist, she cut it off but another grabbed her leg, slowly, struggling she lost ground until she too was covered in a strong binding of vines that encased her whole body up to her noes.

Hinata fell to the ground exhausted and only when she stopped struggling did the figures in the forest move forward, dragging her bound companions behind them.

A handsome young man in a plain white open kimono with dark hair and a long katana strapped to his back emerged first, followed by a woman with deep purple hair streaked with tints of blood-red in a formal kimono patterned with green roses. Last a tall man emerged, he was muscular and thin, his long dark hair flowing down to the base of his spine, his plain dark blue kimono over a black wrap that covered most of his body.

Hinata did not recognize the woman, but he recognized the two men, the younger was a former member of the Konoho Genin whom she had trained along-side in her early school days, Sasuke. The older man she had seen only once when he led an attack on her village four years before, the raid had ended in the murder of the Hokage before Tsunade, as well as the deaths of many respected Ninja of the Hidden Leaf, she had read his file, his name was Orochimaru, and he was very, very dangerous.

"So this Is the Monk you spoke of Sasuke?" Orichimaru was saying to the younger man, completely ignoring Hinata.

Sasuke nodded and kicked Aang, rolling him to the ground in front of Orichimaru. Aang let out a muffled moan from the blow.

"Very well then, let us see what is so special about this monk, shall we?" Orichimaru said, starting toward the bound figure.

"Ahem." Sasuke caughed, jerking his head toward the purple haired woman and the other bundles of Ninja.

"Ah, yes of course, first things first." Orichimaru checked himself." Dokusuru if you please?"

The two men stepped back and the woman pulled out a thin needle, pricking her right thumb. She bent down and placed her hand on the ground yelling "Kakeru-Doku No-Jutsu!"

A spiral of symbols wrote themselves out around the womans hand as the earth began to shake. Long thorn covered branches shot up from the earth in a circle around Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto, forming into a large domed cage of interweaving and entangling vines and branches that resembled an enormous, hollow, rose-bush. As soon as it was formed the vines surrounding the three caged Ninja retracted back into the forest.

Naruto immediately lept at the cage striking at it hard and faling back with a bleeding hand, leaving not a single mark on the thorny cage.

Kakashi was still asleep but Sakura was awake and yelled at Sasuke while Naruto kept trying to break free.

"What is wrong with you Sasuke! Why are you attacking us again!? We're your friends!" she bellowed as Naruto tried a shadow-clone version of the same technique to similar effect, however this time the shadow-clone who attacked disappeared in a puff of smoke and a light from inside the cloud flowed into the domed plant which responded by growing it's branches inward slightly.

Sakura noticed this and noticed Naruto and two shadow-clones standing around striking towards a sphere of energy in the original Naruto's palm.

"Naruto no!" Sakura yelled and pulled on of the shadowclones away causing the sphere to dissipate.

"What did you do that for Sakura?!" Naruto demanded.

Sakura looked at the woman with the purple hair who was sitting on a stump 10 feet away and smiling at them, then she turned to Naruto and whispered "The plant absorbs Chakra, and when it does it grows in, if you hit it with a Rasengan the thorns might skewer us."

Naruto puzzled this for a moment. "What about weapons? We could try exploding kunai?"

And they did, to no effect other than getting hit by the shock-wave of their blasts.

Meanwhile Orichimaru and Sasuke who were COMPLETELY ignoring the caged ninja and their capture, had pulled Hinata and Aang away into the forest and strung them up so their bundled forms hung on tree-branches.

"Now, lets see about this Monk." hissed Orishimaru, "The Hisahi girl will only be with them for one reason. Isn't that right young one?" Orishimaru slid one finger down the side of Hinata's face, caressing it gently as he spoke. Hinata jerked her head away in revulsion and would have spat at the former Sanin had she not been gagged.

Sasuke nodded and swung his sword in a lightning-fast elegant movement which cut the vines around the girls mouth at which Hinata spat at his face and he deftly blocked the spittle with flat of his katana.

"The See'er scrolls, isn't that right?" asked Orishimaru. Hinnata looked shocked.

"Yes I know of them..." continued the older dark haired Ninja, "... I was privy to many of their prophecies when I was a Sanin of Konoho nearly sixty years ago. If I know the current Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, and I think I do, she will have sent you with the boy because of something cryptic hidden in the ancient lore of your family, isn't that right?"

Hinata said nothing.

"Oh come now, surely a genin of Konoho has been briefed on my... talents, you know you will tell me eventually, it's simply a matter of how much pain you will endure before-hand." Orichimaru soothed.

Hinata held up her head proudly, her mouth clamped tightly shut as she glared at the man.

"Very well." smiled Orichimaru, clearly preferring this turn of events, he pulled back his head and opened his mouth far too wide for a human, his canine teeth sharpened and grew into long points. The man leered a fanged smile for a moment before striking forward faster than Hinata could see, he bit deep into the girls neck and she screamed loud with pain and shock.

Orichimaru waited a moment and the coiled back, his movements so serpentine that for a moment he resembled a large cobra much more than a man.

Aang's eyes widened with fear as he watched the exchange. He looked at Hinata who's eyes had glazed over, her head lolling to one side unnaturally, two puncture wounds stood out on her neck and a slight trail of blood trickled down in two streams toward her chest.

"Now, Hinata, please tell me about your mission. I'd like to know where was your team being sent." Orichimaru asked politely.

Hinata pulled her head up to face Orichimaru with some effort, she stared him in the eyes, and she held her mouth tightly shut in defiance. Orichimaru just smiled. A few moments later a sound came from the young Genins throat, it escalated until she could no longer hold it in, sweat dripped from her brow as she finally opened her mouth and gave a long blood-curdling scream. She shrieked for a whole minute as the pain seemed to be building and eventually her cries formed the words... "_THE VILLAGE OFFF THEE MYYYST!!"_

Finally the pain seemed to subside and Hinata's head drooped as she panted for breath, tears streaming down her face she let out another cry as if to get rid of the rest of the pain in her body.

"There... now that wasn't so hard was it?" Asked Orichimaru, "Do you see how much easier things will be for you if you participate?"

Hinata sobbed. "I will d-die... before I betray my family again." she panted between strained breaths.

"Very possibly if you're chose to be that stubborn." Orichimaru replied matter-of-factly, he turned to Sasuke, "This may take a little while, you may start on the boy."

Aangs eyes widened with fear imagining the younger man growing fengs and biting him, but Sasuke merely turned to Aang looking deep into his eyes. As Aang stared back at Sasuke the dark haired mans eyes changed, turning red as three spiraling forms appeared within them... Aang couldn't seem to tare his gaze away and the next moment he was hanging on a beam of wood, his body pinned to it with long blades that stuck through him. Blood flowed down from his body and he too cried out in shock and agony as the figure of Sasuke materialized before him.

"Who are you." asked Sasuke in a menacingly quiet voice.

"My name is Aang!" Aang yelled "Why are you doing this!?"

"How did you defeat the silthfell?" asked Sasuke, ignoring the question.

"The what?" Aang cried. "AAAOW!"

"You defeated an undefeatable technique, I saw you, I want to know how you did it? What was the glow?" Sasuke pressed.

"I... I don't know... I just sort of did it!" tears streamed down Aangs face.

The blades dug in further and grew a couple of inches in width as Susuke stepped forward.

"You're lying, you said 'we are not from the void' who we're you talking about? How did you destroy the silthfell?"

"Please... stop! I just did it, it happens it was a reflex, I don't know how I did it I swear!" Aang pleaded.

Sasuke pondered this a moment. "Maybe you don't know, but something inside you does, you know subconsciously, and I'm going to rip through every layer of your mind until I find the answer."

Sasuke lifted his hand, spreading his fingers, the spikes shot out what looked like roots that traveled under Aangs skin and elicited an incoherent shriek from the boy.

**********************

"She's just starring at us." Said Naruto looking at the purple haired woman who sat still on the stump, her eyes fixed on the cage with a hungry look.

"I know." said Sakura. "Anything with chakra in it feeds the cage and makes it grow. Everything else just bounces off like it can't even touch it, and if we try anything physical..." Sakura held a glowing hand to her arm which had a deep cut in it "... the thorns reach out and strike us before we can even get close."

"Right." said Naruto, wanting to help but unable to think of anything. "I just wish she would stop staring at us."

Sakura scowled, thinking intently, then looked at her arm to check the progress of her healing technique. As she pulled her hand away, still glowing with green chakra, her eyes widened and she looked up at the brambled cage, then at the woman then at Naruto.

"I have a plan. But I'll need your help Naruto." she said in almost a whisper.

**********************

"And what does the scroll say about the monk?" asked Orichimaru in the same emotionless mono-tone.

Hinata was struggling and screaming at the top of her lungs but none of the people around her seemed to notice, in fact, Sasuke and the bound Aang didn't seem to notice much of anything, they were staring into eachothers eyes, unblinking, incoherently as though comotose, and yet Sasuke was standing with perfect balance.

Slowly ever so slowly Hinata recited the first line of the poem on the scroll. The etched accross her face as much from the effect of Orichimaru's unnatural bite as from the knowledge that she was betraying her family, her clan, and her village. Each time she answered a question, she prayed the pain would kill her.

_"I see the land in forest..."_

**********************

"I want to know!... " yelled Sasuke reaching forward and ripping the skin off of Aangs face "... how you did it! Where does your power come from!?"

The flesh ripped away only to reveal another, younger face of Aang, about five years old. This one trembled in horror as it watched Sasuke reach forward to pull at his skin again. The torture was unbearable, Aang had long since stopped yelling or screaming and was now in so much shock that he could barely make a sound.

Fingers clawed at the edges of his eyes, forehead, and chin, clawing, taring, desperately searching beneath his skin, bulling away another piece of him.

"IT's not here! WHERE IS IT!? WHERE ARE YOU HIDING IT!?" Sasuke looked deranged, his voice full of desperation.

Another layer removed, then another. An infant form of Aang looked up with ageless innocent eyes.

"WHERE!?" Sasuke stuck his fingers into the eyes of the child, blood splattered his own face, he heard a baby crying somewhere and then... someone tapped him on the shoulder.

The dark haired young man with the red eyes turned, his hands drenched in blood, his vision fixing on the form of an elderly man in black, red and gold robes, who's long silvery hair was pulled up by a small golden crown into an elegant bun in the back.

"You seek power you cannot wield Sasuke Uchiha. You do not understand power." said the man.

Then next to him a statuesque woman appeared in green robes, she was so tall she dwarfed the older man who looked to be at least six feet himself. "You have given yourself to another, you will not defeat your enemy until you will be your own master." the woman stated bluntly.

Again a figure appeared to her right, this one in a blue fur coat, his face obscured by a hood, "Do not allow your hatred to rule you Sasuke, it will only lead you down a path of your own destruction."

Once more a being faded in beside the last, a woman with grey eyes and black hair shaved halfway up her scalp to reveal a blue arrow tattoo ending above her eyes.

The last figure simply looked at Sasuke, tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

Then more figures appeared, they faded into a spiraling line which encircled Sasuke and Aang in the center and radiated outward into seeming infinity. There we're thousands of them, some wearing similar clothing, all watching Sasuke darkly.

Sasuke instinctively tried to control them, this was his world, his illusion, but his efforts were fruitless. The thousands of eyes continued to stare at him, unblinking.

Then, without warning, the earth beside him rose in a pillar so quickly it hit him like a ram-rod from the side flinging him high into the air. Sasuke tried to pull himself out of the sharingan illusion but nothing seemed to be working and he was finding it difficult to concentrate as now he watched the blue hooded figure softly raise his arms. Two tentacles of water rushed up at him, binding him in place and pulling him down, slamming him into the hard, fake, ground.

Sasuke drew his sword, tried to raise himself from the earth but found himself staring face to face with an inferno in the shape of a dragon, the silver haired man at it's very core.

Sasuke instinctively began performing a jutsu but the dragon's tongue lashed his hands and feet before turning into a single jet of hot white fire and hitting him dead on in the face.

Sasuke gasped in shock and fell to his knees. Before he could get his bearings he was rising, or the earth was falling he couldn't tell. A howling wind filled his ears and he saw cracks appear in the red sky of his illusion high above as though it were some sort of large stone dome.

Sasuke tried to look around, he was suspended in mid air at the center of a violent twister, he was spinning very fast and he could just make out the shape of the woman with the grey eyes dancing on the wind at the apex of the vacuum above him. He couldn't breathe. He held his throat, he spun and spun changing directions in a fraction of a second as dichotomous winds hit him from either side, he vomited but still he could not breathe though he wasn't blacking out, all he could think of was the need for oxygen in his lungs.

Finally the winds dissipated, he was falling, falling fast toward hard red earth, but at least he was breathing. He slammed into the ground with such a force that he thought every bone in his body might break.

He saw a trickle of blood beneath him... he told himself over and over again that this was just an illusion, his illusion... but somehow that was little comfort.

Eventually he tried again to right himself, and he flinched instinctively as he saw the mass of people, the four who had appeared first stood out of the spiral before him like judges.

"Wh...Who are you." Sasuke tried to ask.

"Has it not yet become clear to you?" The woman with the blue tattoo finally spoke.

"I... you are going to kill me." Sasuke said with morbid resign.

"No." spoke the tall woman in green.

"We will spare your life, though the violation you have committed here is not one we take lightly. We will spare your life..." said the tall silver haired man in red gold and black "... but only because _he_ wants us to."

Sasuke turned to look where the man was pointing. Behind Sasuke, standing in flowing robes of pale orange and yellow, stood Aang. His face, once more the proper age for his body, he was staring at Sasuke with the strangest look in his ageless grey eyes.

Aang stood there for a while, looking at Sasuke intently before finally moving forward. The monk knelt down to eye level with the dark haired ninja. Sasuke didn't move a muscle, he just looked back in something between defiance and confusion.

"Sasuke Uchiha... " Aang began "... you're life like mine was destroyed by a great evil. Your family, like mine, murdered in cold blood. Your people, like mine, on the brink of extinction."

Sasuke steeled his jaw, glaring at the monk.

"We, the both of us, have had to make hard choices, have had to stand at a crossroads, have been forced to become greater. But you have hardened yourself Sasuke. You are trying to kill a part of you that cannot die no matter how much you want it to."

"Just kill me already." Sasuke snapped.

Aang looked to the other figures and exchanged a nod.

"You want to know how I defeated the Silthfell, Sasuke?" Aang asked.

Sasuke studied the monk for a while before finally nodding.

"All you had to do was ask. But I can't tell you, I have to show you. And you may not like what you see." Aang looked at Sasuke, unblinking.

"Show me. Show me or kill me." Sasuke demanded.

Aang nodded, looking resigned.

"The true mind, Sasuke, can weather all lies and illusions without being lost..."

As Aang spoke his eyes began to glow, as did the eyes of the sea of individuals around them. Sasuke pulled back hesitently.

"... the true Heart can touch the poison of hatred, and not be harmed..."

Now Aang was stepping closer to Sasuke, his hand outstretched toward the other mans heart. Sasuke didn't pull away, but he didn't keep his eyes off of Aang.

"... from beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void Sasuke Uchiha, but always yields to purifying light."


	15. Medical Jutsu

**((I own not Naruto nor Avatar TLA))**

**A/N: Thank you to everyone for the many reviews on the last Chapter. I am very happy to finally be able to get to the meat of this story.**

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**Chapter 15: "Medical Jutsu"**

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Orichimaru did not care about Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke was given Orichimaru's cursed seal which placed the young Ninja under the older Sanin's influence. Sasuke left the village of the Hidden Leaf soon after to join Orichimaru and study under the Sanin in his quest for power and vengeance. The young ninja accepted the inevitable consequences. Orichimaru would one day take Sasuke's body for his own, along with all of Sasuke's accumulated power, thus giving the Sanin longer life and bringing him one step closer to immortality. Sasuke's consciousness would be destroyed, but he would first get his vengeance. Sasuke was a tool, a vessel, an instrument in the eyes of both himself and Orichimaru.

Which is why when Orichimaru saw the brief blue flash from the bound monks eyes that lasted only a millisecond, why when Sasuke cried out and fell to his knees next to Orichimaru, and Orichimaru turned to him and held him by the shoulders asking what was wrong, it was not a gesture of empathy or compassion. Orichimaru was simply protecting his investment.

Sasuke's face was bent down into his open hands, making a sound Orichimaru had never heard from him before, it sounded almost as though his stone-hearted protege was crying.

"Sasuke? What happened?" Orichimaru demanded in a voice that almost perfectly mimicked concern.

Orichimaru pulled the young ninja up to look at him and blanched at what he saw.

"Your face!?" the Sanin exclaimed in actual surprise.

Sasuke looked at his Sensei, his tear-filled eyes held blank unrecognition of the world around him. This was startling enough to see from one who had spent years withdrawing from any semblance of emotion that did not serve his goals, but more surprising was his face it'self. The entire left half of Sasuke's face was scarred in a blast pattern emenating from the inside of his eye. Scar tissue, from what looked like a burn, stretched outward across the left hemisphere, covering his eye, his ear, continuing on upward past his hair line and just above his mouth.

"What did he do!?" Orichimaru turned upon the monk who was unconcious, slumped in his vine-flavored bindings.

Hinata let out a little whimper in her own vine wrapping. Blood streamed down her face from her eyes and ears, the result of Orichimaru's interrogation, but Orichimaru ignored her.

"I will make him fix this!" Orichimaru growled and reached toward the sleeping Aang, but before his hand made contact with the Monks throat an explosion sounded from the forest behind.

Orichimaru turned around just in time to see Kunai flying at him from all angles. He grabbed Sasuke and lept to safety, landing some ten yards away.

But someone was there, several someones.

Naruto lept out of the trees, a glowing sphere in his outstretched hand. Orichimaru dodged, still carrying the incoherent Sasuke, and stabbed the orange clad-genin with his Katana wielding free hand. There was a puff of smoke and as Naruto's doppelganger disappeared the ground shook and exploded around Orichimaru.

But the old Ninja was not called a Sanin for nothing, before he could lose his balance he was in the air. He caught the briefest image of a girl with pink hair hitting the ground with gloved fists behind him as he lept, encumbered by the body of his protege, but still moving with lightning speed.

Lightning, that's what it looked like. It cut through the air and his outstretched Katana as he swung it around defensively against the Chidori of Kakashi striking at him from behind.

"I don't have time for this!" growled the Sanin, but his attackers weren't particularly concerned with his convenience.

Orichimaru kicked two more shadow clones of the blond-orange-jump-suit-wearing genin out of his way as he landed, blocked three more exploding tag kunai with his half katana, turned into a half snake which slithered around dodging a rampaging Kakashi with an outstretched arm wielding lightning bursts and emitting a high pitched chirping noise, then began to form the seals for a jutsu with one hand.

But his hand he found, was bound by a vine. In surprise he looked up to see a woman with purple hair and blood red streaks, her eyes glowing bright green.

"YOU LIED TO ME ORICHIMARU!" she yelled, her hands outstretched.

Orichimaru just shrugged and turned into a massive cobra which coiled around Sasuke then dove into the ground as if it were water, carrying Sasuke with him.

Within seconds the earth had stopped rumbling and there was a gaping tunnel where the Sanin and his apprentice had been.

Naruto ran to the edge of the tunnel, but he couldn't see the bottom.

"After him!" Naruto yelled.

"No." commanded Kakashi. "He's not part of our mission, and we have teammates to take care of. Let him go, we aren't in any condition to really fight him."

"Speak for yourselves." the purple haired woman scoffed, but she too didn't follow down the hole.

They made their way to the bundled lumps of people on the ground. With a wave of her hand, the woman dispelled the vine-bindings.

Hinata looked up at Kakashi, her face stained with blood and tears.

"Kill me."

******Before******

Sakura spoke in a low whisper to Naruto within the cage of thorns as the purple haired woman watched them from her seat on a stump.

In a few moments Naruto nodded then stood up, facing the woman.

"Oi! You! What's your name?" Naruto demanded.

"I'm happy to tell you Naruto. My name is Dokusuru. Sound familiar?" replied the woman with a malicious smile.

"No. Should it?" Naruto asked genuinely.

"YES IT SHOULD!" Dokusuru growled.

"Oh, well... ummmm.... Have you seen this!?" Naruto placed his hands together and performed a shadowclone technique, eight separate Naruto's now stood around thumbs-upping each-other and winking at Dokusuru.

"Yes. Yes you did that about five minutes ago." Dokusuru replied dryly.

"Oh right HAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto laughed heartily... "Well how about this!?"

_"BEAUTIFUL DISTRACTION NO-JUTSU!"_

_~POOFPOOFPOOFPOOOF~_

Dokusuru blanched and nearly fell off her stump.

Meanwhile Sakura had made her way behind the wall of Naruto's. She took off her gloves, closed her eyes and held her hands up to the bramble-cage. Feeding it a little bit of chakra she felt the energy flow out of her, she concentrated on the chakra she had let go, tracing it's movement within the brambles.

The real Naruto was beside her while the rest were naked women. "Any luck?"

Sakura concentrated hard, focusing in on smaller and smaller chakra lines which ran through the plant. "Naruto, make one of your clones attack the thorns."

Naruto nodded then looked to one of his shadow clones, the one on the far right jumped forward unexpectedly, kicking the wall of the cage and dissapearing in a puff of smoke as the thorns reached out and stabbed, the walls of the cage grew in about five inches.

Sakura's eyes widened. "GOT IT! Naruto attack here, now!" she yelled, pointing to the spot on the cage she had been manipulating.

All but two of the shadow-clones disappeared while Naruto jumped back to the remaining. Putting their hands together over the original Naruto's they created a spinning ball of pure blue chakra.

Dokusuru smiled confidently. "Just killing yourself faster." she hummed.

Naruto rushed at the spot Sakura had pointed to and slammed the ball of energy into it, dead center.

The cage began to grow in rapidly, Naruto and Sakura retreated to the center with the unconscious Kakashi.

But then the growth stopped abruptly, Dokusuru stood up, the massive domed plant began to wither, it's branches becoming dark and dry, the thorns fell to the ground.

"What did you do!?" Dokusuru screamed at Naruto.

"Not me." said Naruto with a triumphant smirk. "Her." he stated pointing to Sakura with his thumb.

Dokusuru glared at the pink haired ninja.

Sakura finished strapping on her leather gloves, moved her stance back and dug her heel into the ground.

Kakashi opened his eyes and began to sit up. He caught an image of Sakura putting on her gloves. "Sakura?" he asked weakly.

"HELL YEAH!" yelled the medical Genin, before rushing forward and punching a gaping hole through the dead cage of thorns with a loud _"CRABOOM!"_

Dokusuru lept upward and back, sending vines at them from the trees but Naruto was in full shadow-clone mode, no matter how many vines came another Naruto appeared to cut it back.

Dokusuru alighted in a tree and began performing another Jutsu, but Sakura ran toward the tree and slammed her fist into the ground. A small earth-quake erupted forward and smashed the tree out from under the Purple haired Ninja.

Dokusuru's eyes glowed green, she pulled her hand back and then struck forward, hundreds of nettles shot from the forest around her.

Sakura slammed the ground again sending up a huge slab of earth to block what she assumed were poisonous darts, then lept heigh into the air over her apponent and clapped her hands together hard.

The shockwave knocked Dokusuru to the ground. She performed another jutsu and a Venus-Fly-Trap-like plant grew up and over her, snapping up Sakura into it's large toothed mouth.

Naruto left his shadow clones to protect Kakashi from the still struggling vines, he threw a metal star at the sakura-trap. Performing a jutsu at just the right moment the shuriken grew 20 times over and cut the plant in half.

Dokusuru growled and hit the ground with her hand, roots flew up around Naruto into a smaller version of the cage he and Sakura had just broken out of. "You can't get out of there without your girlfriend." she sneered.

_SLAM!_

Dokusuru was hit across the back-side of her head by a gloved fist, she shot like a cannon thirty feet through one tree and into another which cracked under the impact and fell on top of her.

"Stay here Naruto." Sakura said Darkly. "I'll make her let you out of there, just don't do any jutsu."

Naruto protested but Sakura had already jumped toward the wreckage of trees.

Dokusuru pulled herself out from under the large trunk, holding her ringing head as she heard a soft pat on the ground behind her. She swung around expertly pulling out a rose from her hair which extended into a long thorned whip and cut thru a trunk five feet away from Sakura.

"So you're going to kill me too?" asked the older woman bitterly.

"No." Sakura stood like a statue in the forest. "I'm going to make you release Naruto and then I'm turning you over to the Konoho Gaurd for information on Orichimaru."

"Hah!" Dokusuru laughed and lashed out with her whip again, but she was disoriented and Sakura dodged easily. "I will never tell the villains of Konoho anything!"

Dokusuru spun with her whip chaotically, cutting through trees and solid rock.

Sakura kept just out of her range, waiting for the right moment, then flipped back and tossed a smoke bomb at the woman's feet.

The purple haired ninja caught her throat as she inhailed the smoke which stung her eyes, she dropped her rose and flailed out, trying to get distance from the toxic fumes. She found herself standing in a small clearing facing a hole in the ground where a large oak used to be.

"Hey, Doku-San, you like to fight with plants right?" said a mocking voice from behind.

Dokusuru turned around and caught one glimpse of Sakura standing behind her holding a fourty foot long uprooted tree like a bat.

_SLAM!_

Sakura swung the tree and hit the vicious ninja in the side flinging her against a rock then...

_SLAM! CRASH!_

Sakura pulled the tree over her head and brought it down upon the woman with a force that impailed her two feet into the ground and shattered the mighty oak.

Dokusuru's vision went black.

***************

She felt her body Ache. She heard someone approaching. This was it, this was the end. Was this how her brother died?

A hand reached down and pulled her out of her grave, placing her on the soft soil.

"Wake up." commanded a voice.

The pink haired girl was beside her, hands glowing green.

"Dokusuru of the Veiled Flower?" asked the voice.

"Who... wants to know?." she spat up blood as she tried to speak.

A face came into her field of vision, a maksed face with a single red eye.

"Kakashi of The Hidden Leaf. They call me the copy Ninja." replied the man.

"You, are the one aren't you? The one who led the mission." Dokusuru said weekly.

"I don't know what mission you are talking about, but I am the leader of team Kakashi. So yes, probably." the man said dryly.

"Then you are responsible... you should kill me now... why don't you?" Dokusuru felt the green energy from the girl strengthening her lims and easing her pain. Was she healing her?

"We don't make it a habit of performing assassinations unless we have no other choice." Kakashi responded matter-of-factly.

"You liar! You killed him! You killed Tsatsua!" Dokusuru felt her rage returning with her strength.

"Tsatsua?" said another voice from somewhere she couldn't see. It sounded like the annoying blond. "The one who used the Silthfell technique on Aang-Kun?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, now it makes sense."

"Why!? Why did you do it!?" Dokusuru demanded.

Kakashi turned to her and said with undeniable sincerity "Dokusuru, your brother is not dead. We turned him over to the Anbu."

"Orichimaru used you, just like he uses everyone." Said Sakura from her side, now moving her hands up to heal the woman's face.

"N... Not dead?" A single tear fell from the womans face. "But... but I saw the body..."

"A small feat for a man who specializes in manipulating the dead." Kakashi explicated.

"Then... then..."

Dokusuru sat up her eyes narrowing, her voice all but a growl... "He lied."

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**Hope you all enjoy this chapter! :D My japanese is all but non-existent but I believe Dokusuru means something along the lines of poison-sting. Also I bet you were wondering what happened to Tsatsua huh? And yes I made up the Veiled Flower.**

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	16. Crushed

**((I own not Naruto nor Avatar TLA))**

**A/N: Thank you all for the very encouraging words in the last two chapters. I have been quite busy with the dreaded night shift lately (you don't think I called myself "Twilight" for no reason did you?). So this is a short chapter but a goodie, and I will hopefully get to writing more soon.**

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**Chapter 15: "Crushed"**

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Tears mixed with blood that trickled out of ears, nose, mouth and eyes on the young woman's face. Hinata knelt feebly, her head bowed, her hands outstretched before her grasping the hem her team leaders pant-leg.

"Please... you have to kill me." she panted, her voice weak, her breath shallow "Kakashi-san, I beg you, please!"

Kakashi nodded to Sakura who had been examining Aang. The pink Genin stepped to Hinata's side and placed a glowing hand on her back.

"She's been through a great amount of stress, I'm surprised she's still conscious, but don't see any chakra traps though I'm detecting a feint p..." Sakura began, but Hinata turned and slapped her team members arm away.

"Stop! I have to be killed! I am... " Hinata turned her head down again "Kakashi-San... " she began in a deathly even tone "I have betrayed my village, dishonored my country, my clan and my family. It is the only thing to do... my life is nothing now, it should be ended."

Now Kakashi knelt, eye level with the girl, he looked her dead on and spoke very clearly "What do you mean betrayed your village?"

Hinata sobbed, then weakly hinata tilted her head and pulled back her hair to reveal the two, still bleeding, puncture wounds in her neck.

"I have betrayed the secrets of Konoho, of the Hyuga clan... I have to die!" Hinata screamed the last word and flung herself at Kakashi, tears streaming down her face she grabbed for his Kunai.

Kakashi almost reacted too late out of shock but he grabbed the girls wrists and struggled with her. "Sakura, Naruto." Kakashi commanded, but before either could move to help him, the vines that had bound the young woman reached up once again, tying themselves tightly around her hands, pulling them together behind her back.

Kakashi looked up from the re-restrained Hinata at Dokusuru who merely shrugged in admission.

Hinata struggled violently against the chords. "PLEASE! KAKASHI-SAN!.... Kill me! I HAVE TO DIE!" She screamed angrily.

Kakashi just stood back so she turned and her demeanor changed drastically as she did. Now in a very reasonable voice she pleaded "Sakura.. Sakura please... My family will never forgive me, I have nowhere to go, I can never be accepted in Konoho again, I will be shamed and made an example of and sent away to die alone... please! Please don't make me go through that. Please... "

Sakura took a step forward, "Hinata I'm sure that Tsunade-Sama won't le..."

But hinata interrupted her once more, this time by lunging forward trying to bite at Sakura's belt of hidden blades. She spat and cursed when Sakura lept back out of the way.

Finally Hinata turned toward Naruto. Her eyes fixed, full of tears, she quietly asked him "Naruto... Naruto, you have to do it, you have to do it because.... because I care for you... because I know you feel the same for me. Please, only you can do this... you are a strong Ninja, you will be the Hokage someday, I know you will. Hokage's have to make sacrifices, you have to end my life, for my sake, for the good of Konoho I can not be allowed to live, I am untrustworthy... please Naruto, you have to spare me, you have to protect Konoho... PLEASE NARUTO... " Hinata sobbed uncontrollably now "Please Naruto... You have to! You have to end my life! You have to end my life... because I love you Naruto! I've always loved you! KILL ME!"

Naruto's eyes widened and he just stared at Hinata, then Kakashi and Sakura.

"KILL ME! SOMEONE HAS TO! I HAVE TO DIE!" Hinata spat and struggled, hit her head against the tree behind her, then opened her mouth wide, sticking out her tongue... but before she could bite down Dokusuru stepped down. The older woman with the purple hair opened her hand revealing crushed red leaves and blew softly toward hinata's face.

The crushed and powdered red leaves floated in the air toward the girl and almost immediately Hinata's eyes drooped, then she fell sideways to the forest floor, fast asleep.


	17. The Island of Tears

**((I own not Naruto nor Avatar TLA))**

**A/N: I apologise for the delay in update. June was a very busy month for me, and I felt better leaving off at the end of the initial Konoho story arch rather than getting into the next one and putting it on hold. Thank you for reviewing and being so supportive. (Also thank you for tolerating my horrid Japanese. If you have some knowledge of the language and have a suggestion for a better translation of a name or place, please send me a private message.) Reviews always gladly accepted.**

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**Chapter 17: "Shima-Sakeme (The Island of Tears)"**

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The wind was harsh and bitter as it barraged the small boat rocking on the turbulent sea.

The passengers could barely see three feet in front of them yet their captain who was doubling as a guide assured them that they were on course and would reach their destination within the hour.

Large fur blankets pulled tightly over coats and hoods over cold faces who huddled together for warmth, looking around occasionally as if to assure themselves that the seemingly unending sea of mist had not broken.

The pink haired girl checked her pack once again, careful not to let their captain see it's contents. Inside she found all of her tools and journals right where she'd left them, stacked on top of the secret pouch which hid her Konoho headband. They had all had to give up their outward identities for this leg of the mission. Naruto had protested quite a bit when told to hide his forehead protector, and Kakashi had even changed his mask and wore a large hat to cover his one sharingan eye, but the Land of Mist was extremely dangerous.

While Konoho and the Fire Country had not been at war with the Land of Mist for some time now, it was still an incredibly hostile place, and one much safer to traverse if one did not identify themselves as another countries elite Ninja. Also given the nature of their mission, Tsunade had deemed their chance of success to be much higher if it's covert nature was kept... covert.

After minutes that felt like endless hours the fog ahead began to clear a little and the sillihuettes of rocks and shore faded slowly into existence ahead.

Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura packed what had been removed from their bags on their voyage and checked on their sleeping companions.

Both Aang and Hinata had remained quite unconscious since their encounter with Urichimaru. On Sakura's advice they had not attempted to wake the two which had led to Dokusuru accompanying the Konoho Ninja to the Land of Mists. With her abilities the purple haired woman managed to carry their fallen comrades through the trees easily, thus allowing team Kakashi to reach it's destination relatively on schedule.

As the land grew close the outline of shabby huts and homes began to emerge from the mist. Finally as they reached the shore they could see what had once been a village. Many of the structures looked as though they were roughly tied together with straw, their rooftops broken in in places, their flimsy wooden walls rotting, and the doors hanging barely on their hinges. Streets lay in such disrepair they may as well have not been paved but rather trod into the dirt. Pieces of the once stone roads lay alongside the path to the densest cluster of buildings, while other pieces seemed to have been taken to support or fill in gaps in the sickly structures.

Kakashi and Dokusuru headed into the hills on the other side of the village to meet with their Anbu contact, leaving Naruto and Sakura to secure lodging for the night and a relatively safe place for their sleeping companions.

The building they found was larger than the others, three stories, though it looked to be in just as poor shape as it's surroundings. They entered through the open shoji doors, carrying their comrades on a double stretcher. Almost immediately the two Genin were hit with a pungent stench of something between urine and vomit. The aroma was so severe that Naruto's eyes began to water and Sakura had to scrunch up her face to keep from gagging.

A windowed counter stood in the wall of the inner foiay. Gently lowering their companions Sakura rang the bell and waited sometime before a short plump woman appeared.

"Ah travelers." she said matter-of-factly, neither pleased nor surprised.

"Hai " Sakura bowed " we need lodging for five for the night. Our companions are ill, so a room with ummm... fresh air would be best."

The woman didn't look at Sakura but rummaged through some papers finally pulling out a key. "Yes, your friends won't be out of place here I'm afraid."

Sakura paid the woman and followed her up two flights of stairs and down a few hallways. A few of the rooms they passed were open doored and Sakura understood what the woman had meant. It seemed as though every room they passed contained three or four people lying in bed roles, perspiring as if in a great heat. Some of them were asleep while others seemed to be staring awake at the ceiling, yet all of them had the same look of anguish etched across their faces.

Finally the woman who identified herself as "Madamn Xie" led the four into a bare open room with a few small bed-roles and a low table with an old oil lantern.

Sakura saw to the placement of her companions before turning to thank the woman. "Arigato, this will do fine."

As the woman bowed to leave Sakura hesitantly asked "Are all of the people here sick from the same illness?"

The woman looked at Sakura with hollow, emotionless eyes. "Many get ill on the Island of Tears, some get better, some do not." At this the woman backed out of the room and closed the door before Sakura could ask another question.

****************************

Kakashi led Dokusuru quickly up a path until they reached a small brook. Here the man bent low and cut his finger allowing the blood to flow into the running water. Dokusuru raised an eyebrow and looked around.

"Now what?" asked the woman, impatient.

"Now we wait. I of course do not know the location of the Anbu, only that they are somewhere down stream."

****************************

Sakura left Naruto on guard duty while she went for water and supplies. There wasn't much, these people were impoverished, desperately in need of nutrition and sustenance, not to mention proper hygiene. It was no wonder they got sick so often.

Securing what she could, the medical-genin started back toward the inn. A few children played a game with a long stick, one boy swinging it while the other children jumped over it quickly in turn and chanted a time-song.

"Don't get hit by the demon stick,

no know no one is ever missed,

leap for your life or pray it's gone quick,

shed a tear for the land of mist,

cry all you want it won't help a lick,

count your tears while we count the sick,

1 2 3 4..."

Sakura walked slowly passed listening to the rhyme carefully, letting the gears in her head turn ambiently. As she neared the inn she heard a loud cry from a nearby hut. Deliberating, Sakura finally put down her pale of water and stepped up to the door, knocking lightly.

Some sounds of shuffling came from within before a young boy opened the door cautiously, tears streamed down his face as he fixed her with a haunted, hollow look.

"Yes?" was all he said.

"Ummm.... " Sakura began uncomfortably, unsure if she was doing the right thing. " ...I thought I heard someone yell... is everything alright?"

The boy looked confused at the question as though it were absurd.

"Is someone hurt?" Sakura pressed.

The boy just stood back opening the door onto a single small room with three bed-roles and a small fireplace. Two of the bedrolls were occupied, in one was a woman, perspiring and turning uncomfortably, her eyes closed to the world; in the other was man, lying still, he didn't appear to be breathing.

Ignoring nagging thoughts of propriety and her mission, Sakura moved quickly to the side of the man and checked his pulse. Nothing, but his body was warm.

Taking out her satchel, Sakura grabbed a small bottle. Then just as quickly Sakura put her hands together causing them to glow a bright chakra-green before placing them over the mans chest she pressed down hard, then leaned over the man tilting back his head and holding his nose shut as she breathed into his mouth.

The boy watched from the corner of the room as she repeated the process three times until finally, the man lurched upward and began coughing and wheezing.

Sakura put one of her glowing hands above the mans mouth and lifted it gently, extracting blood and phlegm from his lungs and throat.

Finally as her patients coughing lessened and his breathing became easier Sakura turned to the boy.

"I left a pale of water outside, bring it in here and then start a fire." she instructed bluntly.

The boy was watching her with wide eyes, but seemed to come out of his trance as she spoke. He nodded and left the room returning quickly with the water, keeping an eye on her at all times while in the same room.

********************************************

The man or woman, it was very difficult to tell, stood tall with long black hair, his or her face covered in a signature white mask.

Kakashi was whispering quietly to zhim as Dokusuru waited impatiently some yards away seated on a moss covered log.

Finally Kakashi turned to the woman and gestured her over. "The Anbu have agreed to hear your request Dokusuru." he stated flatly.

Dokusuru bowed respectfully to the Anbu who didn't move an inch in return.

"Honorable one, I am Dokusuru brother of Tsatsua, I humbly request to see him to speak to him and know he is well."

The Anbu didn't flinch or show any sign of reaction. It was only after Dokusuru looked down and began shuffling her foot that zhe spoke.

"You're brother is not well, he cannot be seen by you or anyone at this time."

Dokusuru snapped from respectful to infuriated. "What!? I want to see my brother, he and I are the last of our people, you cannot deny me this!"

"We can and we will. Our decision is final." the Anbu said with androgynous ambivalence.

Dokusuru reached a hand toward the rose in her hair, but before she could make contact she was on the ground, her hands and feet held by a stinging yellow chord of energy.

The Anbu moed into her view above and she spat at him, though not hard enough for the spit didn't make it to his mask and landed squarely on her own face instead.

"You will abide by the decisions of the Anbu, I will not discu..."

But Kakashi stepped in before zhe could finish "I apologise, but can this decision not be taken to the council before it is finalized?"

The Anbu gave kakashi what was obviously a threatening look even behind the mask.

Finally the Anbu nodded and spread his hand, releasing the chords binding Dokusuru who stood up quickly and dusted herself off.

"Then I will see the council, and you will take me to them." Dokusuru demanded.

The Anbu stared at her for a long moment.

"Be sure you know what you wish for." said the Anbu flatly.

"I am certain." Dokusuru state defiantly.

The Anbu bowed and turned away from the two Ninja.

"You will wait in the village for word from the council."

The Anbu moved like a blur, shooting up into the trees and dissapearing from sight.

Kakashi and Dokusuru stood a minute then began the walk back toward the village.

After a long time Dokusuru, still looking forward, whispered "Arrigato Kakashi-San."

************************

Naruto waited a long time in the small, dimly-lit room. He soon became anxious, pacing back and forth in front of the large windows.

"N...naruto..." a weak voice hailed him as if from another world.

Naruto turned quickly at the sound. Hinata lay awake, her eyes full of tears.

"Hinata!" Naruto rushed to her side quickly. "You're alive!"

Hinata looked away from him as he approached, not meeting his eyes.

"Naruto... what have I done?"

Naruto put a hand on hers but she pulled it away.

"It's ok Hinata-Kun. You're safe now." Naruto encouraged.

Hinata acted as though she hadn't heard him. "I have disgraced my family, my clan... Naruto..."

"Hinata, what did Orichimaru d..."

Just then the door opened and in walked a very dirty Sakura.

The pink haired Genin assessed the situation quickly. "Naruto, I went to get water but I had to use it to help one of the villagers. Could you go get me some more from the well in the village square?"

Naruto looked up uncertain for a moment. Then, deciding that this task was much simpler, he headed out the door with a fond goodbye and "Get better!" to Hinata.

Sakura stepped to the young woman's side and ran glowing hands above Hinata's chest, neck, and head.

Hinata didn't speak, she just stared at the wall.

"You were in a lot of pain weren't you?" Sakura asked clinicly.

Hinata nodded.

"From the bite in your neck?"

Hinata nodded again.

"What did he make you do Hinata?"

The dark haired woman looked up at her companion, eyes wide. "H...how did you know?"

"I'm a medical ninja." Sakura answered half-truthfully.

Hinata bit her lip.

"He wanted information didn't he." Sakura continued, not looking directly at Hinata.

A long silence. Then a muffled Sob.

Sakura met Hinata's eyes.

"Sakura!" the young woman sobbed, beginning to shiver.. "I didn't want to Sakura!"

Immediately Sakura knelt down and took the shaking Hinata into her arms.

"H..hhh..he made me tell... I didn't want to!"

Sakura gently stroked Hinata's hair as she held the young genin against her.

"I t..tried... I tried so hard!!!" at the last word Hinata completely broke down her body raking with sobs, tears flowing from her tightly shut eyes in streams. Clutching Sakuras arm, the first daughter of the Hyuga clan shook uncontrollably, wailing with grief.

Behind them a young monk opened his eyes, looked around, closed them again, and pretended to be still sleeping.


	18. The Island of Pain

**((I own not Naruto nor Avatar TLA))**

**Ok, hectic RL pressure sure can get in the way of regular creative outlets sometimes.**

********************************************

**Chapter 18: "Shima-Itami (The Island of Pain)"**

********************************************

It was near dusk as Kakashi and Dokusuru entered the small room of the inn, followed closely by a panting Naruto, sporting a half-full pale of water.

Sakura sat holding the hand of the dark haired ninja with the grey eyes.

"Good, I'm glad to see you are all awake." Kakashi said dryly as he sat on a cushion next to the low table. "We need to discuss our plans."

Aang yawned and sat up slowly rubbing his eyes to look inconspicuous.

It was an hour before the sun finally set. The small band from Konoho gathered around a low table, a single candle between them haunting the room with an eerie fading light as though beckoning the night to swallow it whole.

"The information from the Anbu was criptic at best." Kakashi began, laying a map out on the table before them.

"There is a contact here... " continued the elder Ninja indicating a small, green blot to the north "... he will be difficult to track down but from what the Anbu gathered he is our best chance at finding.. " Kakashi looked at Dokusuru for a moment before continuing... "... the location of the next phase of our journey."

Sakura looked over the map skeptically for a moment before reading the kanji above the location out loud "The Island of Pain."

Naruto looked questioningly to Sakura and Kakashi as Aang shrunk back into himself...

"That doesn't sound very inviting." quipped the young monk.

"It's not..." answered Kakashi from beneath his wide-brimmed-hat "... and that brings me to the next point. Only Naruto, Aang and I will be going."

Hinata made no sound or movement but Sakura opened her mouth as though she were going to protest before Kakashi held up his hand warningly.

"Idealy I would like to keep us together, however the Island of Pain is not a safe place for women specifically." the copy-ninja stated with a tone of finality.

Sakura simply glared at her team leader who offered no other explanation before returning her attention to the scroll laid out below her.

"Dokusuru will accompany you while you look after Hinata, she is waiting for word from the Anbu guard on her brother, and it won't hurt to have an extra set of eyes in the Myst." Kakashi continued.

Dokusuru nodded quietly, but Sakura had to clench her jaw to keep from protesting. As grateful as she was for Dokusuru saving Hinata's life, Sakura still didn't trust the tall woman at all, nor had she forgotten whom the woman had been working with before Sakura had punched her face in.

"We will leave at dawn, Sakura I want you to be ready to move by sunset in two days." Kakashi turned to the grey eyed Ninja "Hinata, I know you have been through a lot, but I want you ready for active duty by the time we get back. You are a konoho Ninja..."

Hinata nodded so slightly the movement might have been missed by anyone not looking at her directly.

Sleeping roles were laid out shortly and lights turned out as team Kakashi plus two retired for the night.

Rest did not come easy. A din of moans punctuated by agonized cries assaulted the travelers throughout the night from the village on the Island of Tears.

* * *

It was a greener place to be sure. There was a lot of foliage which came as a silver lining to the copy ninja as the small boat approached a secluded reef bay.

They were not able to get closer than 20 meters from the cliff walls without risking the jagged coral edges so three bodies lept from the boat gracefully, moving through the air like arrows from a bow. They landed, packs in hand, on the small rock outcropping at the base of the cliffs and waved an ambivalent farewell to their captain.

Kakashi looked up the cliffs edge with a discerning eye. "We will need to do some reconnaissance, we can store some of our supplies there... " he pointed, indicating a small cave about a hundred feet above the tide line "... to move faster."

"I can get up there and lower a rope if you want." Suggested the bald monk from beneath the hooded cloak lent to him by Sakura.

Kakashi gave Aang a single scrupulous eye and Naruto chuckled a bit.

"We won't have any trouble Aang-kun... see!" said the younger Ninja as he stepped onto the wall, walking up the vertical surface easily as though gravity had tipped for him exclusively.

Aang raised an eyebrow. "How did you?..." Kakashi did not wait for Naruto to answer, he simply ran up the wall heading for the cave.

Naruto watched a moment then decided.... "It's easy, sort of. You just mold the chakra in your feet so they stick to the wall." Naruto demonstrated in what was to him the most obvious teaching method, running up the wall after Kakashi leaving Aang alone on the ground.

The monk watched as the two figures entered the cave lithely. He observed the wall cautiously for a minute before putting his foot to it. Concentrating on what he imagined as chakra energy moving into his first foot, he stepped forward... then his next foot... then... he landed hard on his back.

Several minutes later in the cliff-cave as Kakashi and Naruto were unpacking what supplies they wanted to keep with them, the wind outside howled and air rushed upward in a torrent. Presently a limber monk floated off the current into the open mouth of the crevace.

"I guess I have a lot to learn about Chakra." laughed Aang as he rubbed the back of his head.

Naruto laughed, copying the gesture.

"Don't feel bad, it took Naruto almost two days to do it at a run." Kakashi said blandly.

Naruto's smile turned to a Kakashi-directed pout. *"Why does he always have to make me look foolish in front of everyone?"* the blonde Genin pondered.

* * *

Hinata watched the sky from her window. She hadn't said a word since she had cried in Sakuras arms the day before and she didn't intend to break the habbit any time soon.

Sakura had kept busy, taking and analyzing a blood sample from her team-mate to look for residual traces of the poison... packing and repacking their supplies... reading over the mission documents again and again... She was just about to look for Dokusuru (who had decided to watch for the Anbu agent from the roof so as to avoid the stench from the inn) and ask her to show Sakura the powder she'd used to put Hinata to sleep after Urichimaru's attack, when the door to their room burst open and a little boy stumbled in followed by another youth a few years Sakura's junior.

"That's her!" exclaimed the first boy excitedly. "That's the one who saved my dad!"

The older boy gave Sakura a skeptical look before approaching, and then (to Sakuras astonishment) kneeling with his hands outstretched before him holding a small package wrapped in loose paper.

Sakura stood up and took a step back, appraising the boy suspiciously. She was not extremely happy that word had been traveling about her. Knowledge of the Konoho teams whereabouts getting into the wrong hands or even uncovering her identity would complicate the mission phenomenally.

"I am Jubu!" began the boy in a nervous tone "I come baring a gift to plead for my sisters life, great healing woman of the pink locks!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Even Hinata turned around at the words "...pink locks!"

"I... I... I don't even know your sister..." Sakura stated hesitantly...

"Yes you are very decerning!" cut in the boy "... very much so, and wise... wise woman! So when you meet her you will know her then..." the boy was talking very fast "...you will take this gift from our family! A prized catch, please take it..."

Sakura hesitated then reached out and took the package, after which the boy scooted back and bowed his head, his nose nearly touching the floor and his hands now palm down flat against the ground.

Sakura unwrapped the package slowly and opened it a few inches before jumping back with one hand over her mouth. She just managed not to drop the "prized catch" which turned out to be a slimy and sickly looking two-headed fish.

"It is a good gift isn't it! Unique for a unique haired woman with a uniquely large forehead!" implored the boy.

Sakura closed the package and placed it on the one low table in the room before turning to the boy.

"I'm sorry... " she said as she knelt down ".. I can't accept this..."

"NO!" the boy lept at her, grabbing the edges of her kimono, his eyes brimming with tears... "Please! Please! Miss healing woman of the large forehead and bright pink locks! You have to accept the gift! You have to because then you will come and save my sister! PLEASE!" The boy was nose to nose with her now, his breath terrible, his face dirty, tears streaking down from his bloodshot eyes.

Sakura prised his hands off of her easily and moved him to a sitting position. She looked at hinata for a moment but got nothing from her comrade beyond a dead-pan stare.

Should she offer her help? Wouldn't that compromise her teams position even further? The state of the villagers was horrible, true, but her duty was to Konoho and her team, not to the Island of Tears or the Land of Myst. Utility provided she remain as secretive as possible, it was the way of the ninja. Anything she did to draw attention to herself, even from children, put her lives and the lives of her team in danger. Ultimately the fate of one girl was not her responsibility, she did not know the child or his family and had no duty or responsibility to them.

Finally, she turned back to the boy.

"Take me to her."


	19. Altruism

**(I do not own Naruto or ATLA, but I strongly encourage those with the means to support both TV series)**

**Chap****ter 19: "Altruism"**

**THE ISLAND OF PAIN**

The island stretched out before them, full of hills and valleys with several mountain ranges close to it's center so that the ocean of it's opposing side was blocked from view. The trio moved so quietly that even the birds nested in the branches upon which the humans stepped didn't flutter so much as a feather at their proximity.

The clothing of the three figures was indistinct, no longer sporting forehead protectors with the symbol of the leaf on the front, they were dressed in indistinct wraps of dark blue with green lining.

Closer and closer they moved inland, pausing now and then so that the man with the stalk of white hair could consult a map and examine the trail they were following.

Naruto and Aang both followed along in silence, absorbed in their respective thoughts.

Naruto knew more than he wanted to about the Land of Myst, and what he knew made him constantly edgy. The people of the myst, from what he had seen, were as different from Konoha as two clans could be. The Mysts Genin training was sadistic and heartless, and Naruto couldn't help but fear that the people of their country were much the same.

Aangs thoughts were much more mundane. In his mind he saw a girl with beautiful dark skin and startling blue eyes, wearing a robe of green and white. He saw himself next to that girl in robes of pale yellow, turning toward each-other on the balcony of a teashop they moved ever closer, her eyes looking deep into his until finally...

"Aang-Kun, STOP!" hissed Naruto, holding out a hand to pull the monk back to the branch he had been jumping off of.

Aang wavered in mid Air a moment before finally regaining his balance and crouching down on the branch beside his companions. Kakashi glared at him for a moment, then turned his head toward a small clearing beneath them.

Eleven or twelve men all stood in the small clearing, huddled together discussing something quietly, every now and then one of the men would glance up and look around carefully eyeing the tree line with an expression of mingled anger and fear.

The group was dressed in what looked like rags, their appearance exuding a quiet desperation, sallow skin and sunken eyes were visible upon many of the features and one or two of them looked rather ill.

Aang listened closely and could just make out their hurried conversation from his vantage point above them.

"We need food!" rasped a rather emaciated looking man, one arm clutched defensively to his stomach. "We should raid the supplies in the north camp again."

"We can't afford to do that, it's what they're expecting!" growled a rather scruffy looking man with a slit over one eye. "We need to find shelter for the night, lay some traps..."

Another man cut in, he looked a bit healthier than the others, the effect made him appear younger though he was probably about the same age as everyone else.

"I say we take the offensive, cut them down one by one and retake the island for ourselves!"

The others all rolled their eyes or muttered insults under their breath. The emaciated man glowered "You think no one has tried Hashi? Even if we were successful reinforcements from the myst would be here in hours and it would all just start over again..."

A nervous, pensive looking man spoke up, his eyes wide and frightened, "We need to keep moving, we've been here too long... they're bound to catch up to us soon."

The others looked around as if expecting to be surrounded, and muttered consents to this seemingly undeniable truth.

Aang peered closely at the nervous man, his eyes were startlingly blue against his dark skin, and as he turned to look into the forest, scanning for unseen pursuers, Aang let out a little gasp, the back of his tattered rags were woven with an unmistakable symbol... a circle with a spiraling wave at it's center.

Aang glanced at Naruto who looked curiously back, and then at Kakashi. But the old copy ninja was not looking at the man, he was looking at the tree tops around the forest, an expression of concentration on his barely visible features.

Before either Aang or Naruto could ask the question, a shout emitted from the clearing, followed by a volley of whooshing sounds as arrows shot high out of the tree-top canopy angling downward toward the men, now screaming and looking up in terror, below.

Aang lept forward, hearing Kakashi's order to stay put from behind him. The monk landed in the center of the group, moving with such speed he looked like a dark blue blur. Then the monk spun on the spot, bringing his fists together before him and, seconds before the first of the arrows would have reached their targets, a large sphere of swirling wind expanded like a massive domed shield within the clearing.

The arrows glanced off of the swirling wind, their trajectories altered in random directions, sinking into the forest floor or nearby tree-trunks.

The men around Aang were still screaming, disoriented they continued to flee the clearing, running into the forest, only one or two of them even noticed the monks arrival or seemed at all aware of why the arrows had never made contact, but they two only paused for a second before fleeing into the cover of the thick forest.

Aang followed suit as Kunai shot at him from all directions, but his speed outmatched the others by far, he kicked up a trail of grass and foliage behind him as he shot into the forest.

The monk darted through the trees, dancing from branch to branch, upward into the canopy. Then he heard a scream to his right, the scream of a dying man. Aang dashed sideways leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk as though gravity had decided to give him the day off.

Soon Aang saw below him, two figures, one in rags lying on the cold ground and bleeding profusely from a wound in his shoulder, the other masked and wearing robes of green witched matched the fauna perfectly, barring down on the first with lightning speed.

Aang landed on the ground ten feet behind the assailant, and with a rumbling crash the ground between the two men shot upward into a wall.

The masked figure was startled and looked around quickly, he spotted Aang and began to turn but he was too late. Aang brought his stance back and low, his legs spread wide and steady, he pulled his outstretched arms inward as though tugging on a large invisible lever, and the wall behind the assassin crumbled, burying the masked figure instantly.

The disguised monk ran forward over the rubble, grabbed the nervous looking man with the dark bronzed skin and hefted him onto his back without saying a word, then took off like an arrow, leaving a trail of wind and leaves, winding through the dense trees.

**THE ISLAND OF TEARS**

Sakura walked purposefully behind the boy before her, wrapped in an old-hooded-robe to hide her bright pink hair (and abnormally large forehead). Hinata trailed behind her, sullen and disinterested. The boy lead them down a side road with buildings covered in moss until finally turning in at what looked like a large mound of earth.

Sakura watched curiously as the boy removed a large weaving of leaves from the front and revealed a tunnel which stretched downward at an angle before turning flat some ten feet below.

"You live here?" Sakura asked, a little startled.

The boy nodded and beckoned them in, sliding down the loose earth and disappearing into the tunnel beyond.

Sakura looked around nervously, then shouldering her back and trying her cloak tight, she followed the boy, pulling Hinata after her reluctantly.

The tunnel was wider at the bottom, high enough for her to stand and surprisingly light. She moved forward twenty paces before turning right and finding herself before a shabby make-shift door, opening onto a low cielinged room.

The medical Ninja gasped as she stepped forward cautiously, their were bodies here, twenty or so, strewn around, some lying on the damp earth, some in bed-wraps. Sakura could tell at first glance that not all of them were alive. The boy was standing expectantly over a small figure who appeared to be lying on a bed made from old clothes, covered in a large, dirty coat.

Sakura stepped closer but Hinata remained statuesque at the entrance. The girl looked to be about five years old, she was shivering, sweat dripped down her forehead and her eyes were shut tight as if by not seeing she could hide from the horrifying truth of her condition. The most immediately noticeable thing to Sakura however was that the young girl had locks of shockingly pink hair, though paler than her own.

Sakura knelt down, running her hand over the girls body, trying to get a sense of the illness before her. "Jubu..." she asked, turning to the boy guide "... how long has she been like this?"

"A week." said Jubu, kneeling down and running his hand gently across his sisters forehead, wiping sweat up into her hair.

Sakura concentrated on the girl again. There was something very very off about this illness. It was like nothing she had ever seen. The girls chakra lines were, in places, running in the wrong direction, a symptom of one or two very deadly terminal illness. What's more their were no foreign organisms outside of the norm that Sakura could detect, and the girl had no more or less than the average amount of antibodies in her system.

Sakura finally stood up and looked around.

"The first thing we need to do is get the dead bodies out of here." Sakura motioned to three of the supposed invalids. Then turning to Jubu she asked "Has anyone been taking care of these people or is this just where your village sends people to... " she hesitated looking at the boys hopeful face "... who are sick?"

Jubu looked a little defensive, clearly catching Sakura's unstated accusation "Zho-ma has takes care of our ill."

"And where can I find this Zho-Ma?" Sakura queried, hoping to find someone to compare notes with and get an idea of the history of the outbreak from.

Jubu pointed slowly, his outstretched finger finally directed at one of the bodies Sakura had instructed to be removed.


End file.
